Taken
by Atheleia
Summary: What if Gin hadn't immediately killed Irish in "The Raven Chaser"? What if Conan had been kidnapped, with Irish knowing his true identity? A Raven Chaser AU, will spoil movie. Merry Christmas! Yes, I'm a horrible person.
1. Guns and Hostages

Author's Note: I enjoy thinking of _what ifs_, and this story is a result of one. Note to all, if you haven't watched _The Raven Chaser_, first, I would highly recommend it, in my opinion it is the best Detective Conan movie to be produced, and second, this will almost definitely spoil it. So if you're the type of person who dislikes spoiling movies or books, you'd do better to watch the movie before reading anything past this note.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan was thrown against the wall by Irish once again. His cheek was bleeding already from the last time and Conan winced terribly. He panted as he looked at Matsumoto, no, Irish through one eye. Irish walked towards him, smiling slightly as if he knew that the boy in front of him had no escape and was at his absolute mercy. Grabbing Conan by his collar, Irish threw Conan towards the wall nearest the staircase.

Despite his intentions, Conan cried out in pain. Faintly, he heard footsteps. _No_, Conan thought as he struggled to keep himself awake. _Don't come. Please don't come. Don't…_

The staircase door burst open with Ran and another man hot at her heels. "Conan-kun!" she cried upon sighting the young boy, collapsed next to a water machine with many bruises and cuts. Ran rushed over to him. "Are you all right?"

"N...n...no, R...Ran, g...go, d...don't…" Conan said weakly.

"Are you guys all right?" Matsumoto appeared. Ran stood up and looked at the police officer. "Keiji-san, it's not good, all the officers have passed out!"

Matsumoto nodded. "I know. They were attacked by the perp (_A/N: I wasn't sure how to put it here, so I used the CIA version of killer or criminal, which is perp. Also note that vic stands for victim_)."

Conan reached over with all the strength he had and grabbed Ran's leg. "N...no, R...Ran, h...he…" but that was the farthest Conan got. The man who had followed Ran fell to the floor with a loud thud and the unmistakable sound of a gun being loaded came behind Ran.

Slowly, Ran turned around, eyes narrowed and faced Matsumoto. "You're not Matsumoto-keiji," she declared, facing the gun bravely.

"Don't," Conan muttered. He wasn't sitting anymore and was, rather, in more of a squatting position, one leg up with a hand on the knee and his other hand supporting the rest of his body.

"It's ok," Ran whispered, almost to herself.

Ran's memory whirled back to the day Shinichi had disappeared.

"_Hey, Ran," Shinichi said as the two casually walked in Tropical Land, "did you know that a bullet shot by a rifle can go a thousand meters in a second? A pistol goes only a third of that speed, about 350 meters per second."_

A small, small smile came upon Ran's face. Matsumoto noticed. "Why are you smiling? Do you think you can dodge a bullet?" he taunted.

"Yes."

Matsumoto smiled. "Interesting. Well, how about we test it?"

With that, Matsumoto fired and a bullet aiming for death shot towards Ran.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Ran! Stay there! Don't get up! I'll handle the rest!" Conan shouted through his bow-tie in Shinichi's voice.

Ran obeyed, resting her well-beaten head back onto her arms in full confidence that the 'detective freak' would conclude the entire case.

Matsumoto smiled and ripped off his mask. "Well this just makes it more interesting," he said, throwing the jacket off as he walked, revealing a black shirt underneath. "Run, run," he said confidently as he followed the footsteps of Conan. Reloading his pistol, he took careful aim at four points of the only way out in the hall he had come to, a door. Grinning, he released fire.

The door swung open slowly and Irish was displeased to see that the kid hadn't been hiding behind the door. No matter, he had a gun and therefore the upper hand, even the high school detective Kudo Shinichi didn't stand a chance.

Suddenly, a high speed soccer ball came rushing at him and knocked the flashlight out of Irish's hand.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

_Damn!_ Conan thought as he saw the flashlight go flying. He had been aiming for the pistol, but apparently had been inaccurate. Quickly, he lowered his hands to his belt. One more shot, that was all it would take…

The unmistakable sound of a gunshot rang and Conan's belt crackled with electricity. It was broken–there was no possibility of doing anything. Grimacing, Conan reached down to touch the power-enhancing shoes, but another shot sounded and that was left ruined.

"What is it?" Irish taunted as he closed in on Conan. "Out of tricks?" He shot the wall right next to Conan.

Conan grimaced and dodged to the side, knowing it was his only hope.

"Yes, exactly like that," Irish crowed.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan ran up a set of stairs, narrowly dodging a bullet. "Aw, c'mon," Irish said, moving up the stairs slowly. "Let's stop this game of tag…"

Conan leaped from the staircase, much to Irish's surprise, and he kicked the taller into the stomach. Irish fell and his pistol clattered out of his hand. Conan landed on his feet and picked up the pistol, aiming at Irish. "The scales…" he panted, though feeling slightly more optimistic, "has been changed. Give me the memory card."

Irish grinned.

The lights suddenly turned off.

Conan was distracted as a helicopter came into view, shining its bright spotlight on the two. Irish made use of this and lunged at Conan, snatched the gun away, and put his hands on Conan's throat and pushed Conan towards the ground. The boy was unable to move or speak, and with a gun pointed at his forehead, was unlikely to try anything rash.

"The scales have been changed," Irish said, using the words Conan had said only moments before.

Irish's phone rang and he picked it up. "This is Gin," a voice came through. "Do you have the memory chip?"

"Yes." Irish fished it out of his pocket and showed it to Gin.

Conan, who Irish had released when the phone rang, was panting heavily. He could almost hear Gin grin wickedly, and he knew that the end was near, that he would be handed over to the Boss of the Organization, that every single person who knew his identity would be hunted down and killed.

"Get in," Gin said, and precisely as he said it, the door of the helicopter opened.

"Wait," Irish said into the phone. "I have a guest for us all." He turned back to Conan and seized him by the collar roughly. Conan struggled desperately, but to no avail. Irish climbed in, clutching Conan tightly, and Conan had one last look at freedom before the helicopter door slammed close.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"So, Irish, who exactly is this _special guest_?" Gin asked, looking questioningly at Conan, who at this time had been bound and gagged. "He seems a bit young to be caught up in the Organization."

"What business is it of yours?" Irish asked, relaxing on the seat behind Vodka. "I got him for the Boss, have to keep him alive as a witness, or perhaps victim."

"What's his name?" Gin persisted, eyeing Conan, who was still struggling and glaring at the three Black Organization members. "I still don't see what he has to do with us. You do know that the more people we take hostage, the more likely we will be to be discovered, right?" Gin frowned. "Though, to think of it, he looks somewhat familiar, have we seen him before?"

"Figure it out for yourself, Gin," Irish said lazily. "Would it be more obvious if the glasses weren't there? It's part of his cover, you know."

Without answering, Gin reached over towards Conan, who was trying desperately to keep out of reach. Gin tore off Conan's glasses and tossed them out of the helicopter and stared into the boy's face.

"I still don't recognize him," Gin muttered, regarding Conan carefully. "But, he does look like somebody I killed. Still...I don't believe I've ever tried to murder a kid, excluding those times when I set off explosives…"

"I'm not surprised you don't recognize him," Irish smirked. "He looks different from before, even I doubted that he was that guy, until I examined his fingerprints…"

Gin took out a pistol and pointed it at Irish. "Who is this guy?" he asked, gesturing towards Conan. "Tell me, if you value your life in any way or form."

Irish looked calmly at the gun and then glanced at Conan, who was shaking his head, hoping that Irish wouldn't reveal his secret.

"I'd absolutely love to tell you…" Conan's face was of pure horror "...but I have orders from the Boss that prevent me," Irish stared at the gun that Gin was pointing at him. "So shoot me, Gin, if you want to, but unfortunately you aren't Vermouth and I doubt that Boss will be happy if you murder me before I can complete his task."

"Fine," Gin put the pistol away. "Fine. If the Boss says so, then fine. Put the boy to sleep though. I don't want him learning anymore than he has to."

Before Conan could react, the stench of chloroform sealed his nose and he blacked out.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Please send me a review, even if it's only two words. In your review, please tell me if I should continue or not! Feel free to criticize!


	2. Panic

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! I believe that I've already answered all of them, but if I haven't, I'm sorry! I'm going to try to make the plot much more complicated and mess with your minds a bit (hehe…) but nothing's decided yet. So...enjoy!

P.S. I decided to leave Chianti and Korn out of the helicopter because since Gin doesn't appear to want to kill Irish right now, it'd be kind of useless to bring snipers. Just a notice. They still have guns, just no rifles.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Hakase, don't you try to sneak off your diet again," Ai said, hands on her hips. Hakase looked away, somewhat embarrassed at the tone used towards a child directed at him. The two had just returned from the grocery store, laden with bags of all sizes, which they were painstakingly hauling towards Hakase's house.

"I…" Hakase frowned and stopped before he could finish his sentence. "What's a helicopter doing here at this time?"

Ai shrugged. "I don't believe there was a Kid heist, so it can't be that. It's nothing of importance, Hakase. I think you're diet is of much more importance than a random helicopter flying through the night."

Hakase sighed. "Right-o, Ai-kun (_A/N: For some reason, Hakase usually says "Ai-kun" instead of "Ai-chan", which is why I used it here._) My diet. Good for me."

Ai bit back a smile. "Yes, Hakase, a diet is good for you."

The two unlocked the door and let themselves, along with the groceries, in. There was a sharp click of a lock and the lights turned on inside. Through the windows, it was possible to vaguely see the shadows of two people moving around inside, one child and one adult, along with grocery bags.

It wasn't too long after than when there was a sound outside which neither of the two inside heard. It was the sound of something falling and glass shattering.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

_It's ok...Shinichi's taking care of it…_

_Are you sure?_

_Yes. He told me, Shinichi wouldn't lie, not to me, not about something so serious…_

_Do you know that? Are you just kidding yourself? Every single time he comes, you leave him for half a second and he disappears for another 3 months, with only a phone call every few weeks or so. Are you sure about this?_

_Wait. Why am I talking to myself?_

Ran opened her eyes weakly. Shinichi had been here, she had heard his voice, his voice telling her that it would be all right, not to move, that he would take care of it. Where was he now?

She got up and looked around. "Shinichi?" she called. "Where are you?" Her footsteps sounded extraordinarily loud. There was a crunch and she stepped on a piece of glass by mistake. Ran immediately took a step back, the glass had just reminded her of something, no, someone. Someone who was now missing.

"CONAN!"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Bingo!" Ayumi-chan peeped out from behind a _1000 Riddles_ book. "Wow, Mitsuhiko-kun, you got it perfectly right!"

"Of course! My inferences are always great," Mitsuhiko said, puffing up his chest. Genta looked at him from behind a bowl of braised eel, not particularly interested in whatever they were talking about. The Detective Boys, not including Conan and Ai, were meeting at Genta's house, at which they were presented by the infamous braised eel that Genta adored so much. Ayumi and Mitsuhiko were finished and were passing time by guessing riddles while Genta was on his fifth bowl of braised eel.

"Mmm, full," Genta said as he ate the last speck of eel. "That was delicious."

"Genta-kun? Ayumi-chan? Mitsuhiko-kun? Do any of you know an Edogawa-kun?" Genta's mother called.

"Edogawa...we have a friend called Conan who's last name is Edogawa!" Mitsuhiko replied.

"They're talking about something that happened to him, is that him?" Genta's mother pointed at the TV screen.

The Detective Boys ran to the TV. "That's him!" Genta declared almost immediately. "What happened?" Ayumi asked fearfully.

Genta's mother frowned. "There was some business at Tokyo Tower tonight, the culprit for the recent series of mahjong-murders was uncovered, around 6 policemen were supposedly knocked out and one impersonated by an outside person. The person who impersonated a certain police officer escaped, and apparently your friend seems to have disappeared, perhaps with him."

Ayumi's eyes widened. "Conan-kun!"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOURSELF INTO THIS TIME, KUDO? WE WERE GOING TO VISIT THAT RESTAURANT! YOU AHOU!" Heiji yelled at the TV screen.

"Heiji? Are you ok?" Kazuha looked in at an interesting scene.

Heiji was standing up, looking as if he wanted to use his kendo moves on the TV screen. The TV remote lay forgotten on the floor, along with Heiji's phone, which was constantly repeating the same message: "_Unable to reach recipient. Unable to reach recipient. Please try again at another time._"

"What's wrong with Kudo?" Kazuha asked, laying the heavy dishes she was carrying on a nearby table. "Hey, isn't that Conan-kun? What's wrong?"

Heiji was breathing heavily. _Damn it, Kudo. I tell you to come to Osaka, and you break your promise? Who in the world gets kidnapped by somebody who was impersonating a police officer for no reason and not for ransom?_ Heiji was on the edge of a mental breakdown. Roughly, he seized his cap and a coat. "Kazuha, tell my dad that I'm going to Tokyo. No delays. Ok? Thanks." With that, he closed the door and walked out.

"Heiji!"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

_One circular ice cube...and a bottle of my favorite brand...Maker's Mark…_ Subaru Okiya fussed around the kitchen that had once belonged to the famous Kudo Shinichi.

Okiya had always wondered about this fact. In fact, he had done plenty of research regarding Kudo Shinichi and was rather surprised that the successful "Detective of the East" had disappeared so suddenly. He had had his suspicions...perhaps there would soon be a chance to see if his theories were correct.

Okiya's cellphone rang. "Hello? Yes, this is he. Cases regarding Detective Kogoro Mouri? Mmm… ok… sure…"

Okiya hung up and returned to the wine, this time, however, with an odd smile on his face.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Hmm…Jii, don't you think that I should put out another Kid notice?" Kaito Kuroba asked the older man eagerly.

"Kaito-san, do you have another specific jewel in mind?" Konosuke Jii sighed as he listened to the younger rave about Kid.

"Perhaps. But before we discuss, shall we have a look at tonight's news? For all we know, there has been a new jewel discovered that has something to do with Pandora." Kaito shrugged and turned on the TV.

"...we come here to the guardians of the missing Edogawa Conan," a newswoman was saying into a mike. "This is one of the guardians, the famous detective Mouri Kogoro and his daughter Mouri Ran. Both, along with Edogawa Conan, have made the newspapers before, whether it be from solving cases or self-defense awards. Mouri-san, do you have anything to say about the disappearance of Edogawa Conan?"

Kogoro cleared his throat. "I will do all that is in my power to save Edogawa Conan…"

Kaito forgot the rest. He was clenching the seat so tightly that his knuckles were white. Somebody had dared to kidnap Edogawa Conan, _his_ detective?

"Jii, forget the heist. I'm not doing it, at least not now. I want to research the case on this kid, and on a few other people," Kaito nodded towards the picture of Conan which was showing on the screen.

"But...Kaito-san…"

"I've heard enough, Jii! I need some time to think!" Kaito shouted. "Just, please, just research him, what he's done, when he came to the Detective Agency, everything. And don't forget about what's happened before he came. Also research Mouri Kogoro, Mouri Ran, and Kudo Shinichi. I think they may be connected."

"But, how?"

"Jii, I need to think!" Kaito's poker face was shattering, not that it mattered too much in front of a trusted ally like Jii. "Just...just give me an hour or two. Please do the research for me."

"As you wish, Kaito-san."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: Due to a flaw that was thankfully spotted by one of my reviewers (thanks Vaguefuture for pointing it out! It would've been somewhat difficult to write around), I edited the first chapter and changed my original plan. All characters, or rather most, since Genta's mom isn't going to get involved, will be in some way involved in the story at some point. Please review!


	3. What Now?

Author's Note: Thanks, all reviewers! Last time, I neglected to mention the Organization and Conan because I wanted to focus on those outside of them. I believe I've answered all reviews personally, but sorry if I didn't to a few. One reviewer said that Heiji shouted at Conan about the restaurant in Movie 14, not 13, well, just to clear it up, Heiji didn't shout about a restaurant in Movie 13, but he did mention it over the phone when Conan was researching a case. Anyways, enjoy!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Hakase, it's time to get up," Ai shook Hakase as hard as she could.

"Is breakfast ready yet?" Hakase asked groggily, reaching over for his glasses.

"No. Besides, you said that you need to go for a walk before breakfast," Ai said, pulling on a red cotton sweater. Hakase blinked.

"I did?" he asked in bewilderment. Ai's eyes twinkled. "Oh, but of course, Hakase! It's part of the new diet that I came up for you!" Hakase groaned.

A few minutes later, the pair was locking the door. "Hurry up, Hakase," Ai murmured as she shivered slightly in the cold.

"Didn't Shinichi go to Tokyo Tower yesterday?" Hakase asked. Ai nodded. "With Ran-chan, I remember it clearly."

There was a crunch and Hakase leaped back in surprise. Ai crouched down. "It's ok, Hakase," she said quietly. Then her eyes widened, her face paled, and she backed up a bit. "H-Hakase!" she cried, falling onto the grass. "T-The glasses...Kudo…"

"What?" Hakase kneeled next to her. "What about Kudo? What glasses?"

Ai pointed at the ground Hakase had just stepped on. "H-his glasses."

Hakase turned around and looked at the ground in horror.

The glasses were completely broken and the lenses were in pieces. The frame itself had broken in half, probably from a fall. It was bloodstained and scratched horribly. "S-Shinichi's glasses!" Hakase exclaimed, examining them. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Ai whispered, her heart pounding. She felt like she was being watched and their was a bad feeling in her stomach, the feeling she often got when there was a Black Organization member around. "All I know…" Ai stood up and looked at Hakase, her eyes showing her fear, "is that Kudo's in trouble. Serious trouble."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

_Dizzy. Pain. This feels like when I got hit over by Gin in Tropical Land. But where am I now?_

Conan opened his eyes weakly, feeling rather dizzy and hurt everywhere. There was a low murmuring that he couldn't quite hear and in order to eavesdrop, he closed his eyes again, not too tightly, so that it would appear he hadn't woken up. For some reason, he had been un-gagged, probably since the Organization members thought it wouldn't matter after he fell unconscious.

"We're here," Vodka whispered to the other two. Conan risked taking a peek but the windows were tinted and his position made it difficult to see much of anything. It didn't help that it was nighttime and it was completely dark everywhere. Closing his eyes again, he listened in to the Organization members' conversation.

"Irish, take the kid," Gin's voice came to Conan and the boy wanted desperately to shut the man's mouth once and for all. "Vodka, take the automatic shotgun and the Heckler & Koch PSG1 (_A/N: It's a type of sniper rifle_). I'll take the memory card myself." There was a grunt of reply from the other two members as they hastily got off the helicopter. Conan was picked up as easily as if he was a feather by Irish and hauled out. He wished that he had been more prepared this time, maybe had set up that device he set up when he was approaching Vermouth. Conan cursed in his mind and thought about different plans, each more desperate and unbelievable than the next. Suddenly, the cold muzzle of a gun was pressed to his head. "Do you think that people trained by the Organization can't recognize when people are awake? You're much better than most people at pretending to be asleep, Kudo, but you still aren't quite Organization standard," Irish's almost amused voice reached Conan's ears.

"Why didn't you use a gun on me in Tokyo Tower?" Conan murmured without opening his eyes. He was now fully experiencing the pain of what had happened in the Tower, Irish throwing him like a doll and almost choking him. "It was more interesting to see you suffer," Irish shrugged. Conan shuddered. This was a man who _enjoyed_ seeing others get hurt, and enjoyed making them suffer.

"Now keep your mouth shut, Kudo, or you're going to experience some real pain before you meet the Boss."

There was a click of a lock and Conan opened his eyes to see a simple room with two computers, a bunk bed, and a metal table. Irish placed Conan on the metal table. "I don't trust you, Kudo Shinichi, to not try to escape, and this is the easiest and most escape-proof way to do it." There was a snap and Conan felt the cold pinch of metal on his ankles. "What the **** are you doing?" Conan yelled, losing his calm. Irish just smiled at Conan. "I'm doing exactly what it appears that I'm doing, Kudo Shinichi. I am pretty much strapping you to this table, or rather, cuffing you, since I'm using metal as a precaution. Irish took out a knife and cut the ropes that Conan was bound by. Conan now knew why Irish had secured his feet first because after Conan's hands were untied, Conan would be unable to move or attack Irish in anyway. It was a well-thought out plan, Conan thought grimly.

Irish smirked, well aware that he had outsmarted the meitantei. He secured Conan's wrists with the metal cuffs as well, then took a step backwards, looking at Conan as if he was admiring a piece of art. "Let me out!" Conan roared, trying to no avail to break free of the cuffs. Irish whistled. "Somebody's feisty. And you know perfectly well that these cuffs can't break and I will NOT be letting you out because kid though you may seem, you will almost definitely find a way to escape. Have fun feeling like you're stuck to a table." With that, Irish walked out and closed the door.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Kaito-bochama! The information!" Jii raced towards the teen with a sheaf of papers in his hands.

"Yes, thank you, Jii!" Kaito exclaimed, taking the papers from him. A smile flitted on his face. "Just as I thought. Now the thing is…" Kaito frowned, "who took him and where."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"_This is Flight MU20375 headed from Osaka to Tokyo. Please board first class: rows 1-5,"_ a woman's voice came loud and clear over the speaker. An Osakan teenager with a baseball cap, a small bag, and an unusually grim look on his face.

"Hold on, Kudo," he murmured as he handed his flight ticket to the flight attendant who was simply smiling too brightly. "I'm on my way."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Do you think Conan-kun is ok?" Ayumi asked worriedly as she, along with Mitsuhiko and Genta, walked to school. "Ai-chan isn't here either, what do you think happened?"

"Didn't the TV say that Conan-kun was kidnapped by somebody unknown?" Mitsuhiko questioned as he shifted his backpack around. "I can't believe somebody would do that, and I don't believe that Kogoro or Ran-neechan got a ransom note. Why would anybody kidnap Conan?"

"You know what I think?" Genta interrupted the two's serious thoughts. "I think it's time for…"

"The Detective Boys to save the day!" all three said at the same time.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Dad, oh Dad!" Ran sobbed into her father's shoulder. "What'll become of Conan-kun! It's all my fault, leaving him to the mercy of that fake Matsumoto-keiji!" Suddenly, Ran stopped crying. "Wait...for some reason the person impersonating Matsumoto-keiji, why exactly did he want Conan, Dad? It's just so weird, I mean Conan is smart and a really special kid, by why did that guy want him so much. Instead of hitting him and knocking him out directly, that guy started throwing him around before we got there. Oh Dad, I just don't get it!" Ran wailed.

Kogoro patted his daughter's back awkwardly. The kid had always been his good luck charm, an annoying, time consuming, money eating good luck charm, but still a good luck charm. "It's ok, Ran," he murmured. "We'll find Conan."

The words _Hopefully in time_ lay unsaid in the air.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: I have 0 comment on this, besides please review! Oh, and I wasn't sure what honorific to use with Kaito until this chapter (I'm pretty sure it's bochama) so just wanted to clear up that part. Um, please review?


	4. Plans

Author's Note:

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The Detective Boys were gathered in a small circle in Mitsuhiko's room the next day. Mitsuhiko was the most studious of them all and his parents were not completely surprised that he had managed to convince several of his friends to study with him for an hour or so. His sister, however, muttered, "I feel sorry for those kids."

"We need a codename for our plan," Mitsuhiko declared as soon as the door closed, "so that we can say it out loud at school or somewhere else without anybody suspecting. It should have to do with the plan but not totally obvious."

"How about Plan Conan?" Ayumi asked. "After all, it's all got to do with Conan-kun."

"No," Mitsuhiko shook his head. "If we say that aloud, everybody will start badgering us about that since they know Conan was kidnapped."

"I know!" Genta exclaimed. "How 'bout Plan Braised Eel?"

The other two turned towards Genta. "No."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Irish was happy, no, _beyond_ happy, in fact he was happier than he had ever been since Pisco had died. He had perfect evidence, undeniable evidence in fact, that would get Gin in as much trouble as it was possible for the blond to be in.

Irish leaned back in his chair as he sipped some coffee in the headquarters' lounge. It wasn't much, half a dozen wooden chairs and a couple of armchairs, along with a water cooler and coffee machine. A year or two ago, there were a couple of girls who gave out alcoholic drinks according to their names, now that had been the life, but they were gone now. Probably died in a mission or even got murdered by Gin, just like he had gotten rid of Pisco, at this Irish's eyes narrowed. He gulped down the remainder of his coffee and headed back to his room.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kaito was in _the room_.

He really didn't have a name for it, and between him and Jii, it was only known as _the room_. Hakuba had been interested in it once, he remembered, but Kaito was pretty sure that he had done enough to convince the British Detective that it was just a stupid name that he used for his extra closet, which was where he hid all of the things he needed for pranks.

He walked around, pacing, wondering what he would do. Kaito glanced at the pure white clothes hesitantly–he wanted to wear it, to bow mockingly to Nakamori-keibu, to smirk in triumph as he made his grandeur escape, and to laugh as he watched the entire scene unfold.

He would've loved to do all of that, except that he had a mission right now, a mission that he didn't want to fail. After all, Tantei-kun had mysteriously disappeared, making all heists officially boring by Kaito's standard, even if his enemy, Snake, was to show up at one of them.

Kaito sat down in front of an absolutely ancient white computer decorated with images of Kaitou Kid. Kaito wasn't exactly a techie, but he had experimented with enough gadgets to get his way around programs used for creating them, but this was new. With difficulty, Kaito finally managed to find how to create a document on the computer and began typing (not very quickly).

The title read: The Plan. Kaito discarded this notion almost immediately. How about naming it… Plan… _A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z, now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me!_ Kaito began humming the song involuntarily, then suddenly snapped out of it. He stepped out of the room and then yelled down the hallway.

"Jii, will you stop watching the kids' channel?"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Ok, so Plan RC, action!" Mitsuhiko stage-whispered. He put his hand in the middle and Ayumi put hers on top, then Genta put his.

Genta scratched his head thoughtfully. "Um, so we have a name, but what exactly are we doing?" he asked.

"Rescuing Conan, of course!" Mitsuhiko declared triumphantly. Ayumi tilted her head to the side a bit. "But, how? We don't have any evidence on where he's gone and we're not allowed into Tokyo Tower since the incident."

Mitsuhiko sweatdropped. "Er, I hadn't thought of that…" he mumbled.

"I know!" Ayumi exclaimed, pulling out her Detective Boys pin. "Maybe Conan had this with him when he was kidnapped! The Conan we know would never pass off a chance to discover where he was, and he's probably got a whole lot of clues for us! We can contact him now!"

The other kids nodded excitedly. This was the break that they needed!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan hated it.

Conan felt desperately like swearing right now, there was no way out, none at all. He'd tried breaking free of the metal cuffs but they were thick and definitely stronger than he was, the fact that he was a kid not helping. The table was freezing cold and the steel wasn't a very good conductor for heat. Irish had come in once or twice to feed him and give him some water, but the man seemed to relish in making him feel like a kid who needed to be fed from a spoon. There was a certain gash on his face that was still trickling blood and Conan winced when the cold metal came in touch with the cuts near his wrist which he had gotten from being continuously thrown and punched by Irish. His stomach growled slightly with hunger and to keep his mind away from his fate, if not anything else, he thought despairingly of Ran. What was she thinking now?

That was when it happened.

At first, Conan was startled by it, so much that he thought he must be dreaming. But it was true, it was Ayumi's voice coming through the pin.

"Conan-kun! Conan-kun, can you hear me?" Ayumi's squeaky voice came through the receiver.

Struggling, Conan wiggled his left arm a little more into the cuff so that he would be able to press the "speak" button. "Ayumi-chan…" he gasped. His throat felt hoarse and the pain from his cuts were feeling immensely pronounced. "I...I'm fine tell...Ran…" Conan was annoyed that he couldn't say it in complete sentences, but he kept on wincing every few words or so. "Tell Haibara...B...O...H...Q," Conan said slowly, knowing very well that none of the Detective Boys were geniuses and were probably liable to make mistakes when nervous. In addition, Conan didn't want to get them involved. They were too young, too innocent, and they didn't deserve to get mixed in with this mess. Haibara and Hakase were the only ones nearby who could be trusted with the information.

"Ok, Conan!" Ayumi said, a bit nervously. "Mitsuhiko-kun's got it down!"

"Ok...tell Haibara," Conan began.

He never finished his sentence.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Vermouth was having a normal and perfectly happy day, which was to say she had murdered a few people (one by poison, two by guns, probably also ruined the lives of the people she had pushed it onto) and now she had arrived on her motorcycle at the Organization's headquarters, prepared to enjoy the rest of the day in peace. Vermouth snorted. It was odd for the words Organization and peace to be in the same sentence.

Turning the engine off in her private parking space, she secured the many locks and bolts that kept her motorcycle safe, not that any sane person who knew her would ever think of stealing it. The locks included two fingerprint scanners that were specially designed by herself and three password locks that each had a unique combination. Satisfied at the security, Vermouth headed towards the headquarters.

The headquarters was well hidden. There was an abandoned factory that was well away from the city, and the road to it was only known by members. As another precaution against unwanted visitors, the only way to enter was to go into the bathroom (girl or boy, it didn't matter) and turn the toilet handle up (instead of down) and then twist the handle 5 times. If it was anymore or any less, the bathroom was wired to self-destruct. If one got it right, however, a door would open to the headquarters of the Organization with a staircase leading down to a brightly lit corridor.

There were several of these hidden entrances scattered around Japan, and a few in other countries. The ones in Japan, however, were the only ones that were connected underground, spanning hundreds of miles. It took skill to remember how to get where, and most members only bothered to remember where their room, the bathroom, and the lounge was. Vermouth, however, had taken the time and effort to remember almost every single member's room, which she had used to her advantage many times.

The blond walked confidently through the hallways until she reached the lounge. Several men who were playing poker before immediately leaped up, on their guard. It was standard Organization protocol, if an enemy should enter, one would not want to be unprepared. But despite knowing perfectly well that Vermouth was not an enemy, the men were all shaking down to their boots. They had heard many rumors, many many rumors about the famed Boss' favorite, Vermouth, and they weren't eager to get caught up in one of them.

"V...Vermouth-san!" the man with a silver earring stuttered. "H...how are you?"

"Perfectly fine, Rum," she said coldly. "Now don't let me interrupt your very interesting game, I was only here to pick up a bit of refreshment." Then, ignoring the coffee, she strode to the counter where only a few knew of the different types of alcoholic drinks. They only stocked up on the ones that the highest ranking members' names were, though, namely herself, Gin, and Vodka. A few others, but when the members died, their drinks were removed. Taking a wine cup from the counter, Vermouth poured herself some, well, vermouth. After gently allowing the wine to settle, she gazed at the rich color and took a sip.

"Hey, did you hear about the kid that Irish brought in earlier?" a thin man with one rather wide eye and one eyepatch, who was called Pinot Noir, asked eagerly. Vermouth's eyes widened and she almost spit out her wine.

"Mmm, yes I did," a man with a horrible scar running across his cheek nodded. His name was Merlot and he specialized in bombs and poisons. "Was pretty beaten up when he came in, bloody, messed up hair, bruises, swollen eye, probably got kicked around a bit by Irish. Dunno why Irish brought a kid, something about the Boss, though there's really not much that a Boss would need of a kid. Not to mention that it would've been easier to shoot the boy instead of throwing him around."

Vermouth gritted her teeth, and without warning, dropped her wineglass. Ignoring the gasp from the men as the glass shattered against the floor, she stormed out of the room.

_You idiotic Silver Bullet. What'd you do this time?_

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Irish swung open the door to his room–and found the boy, Kudo Shinichi, communicating to somebody.

Irish wasn't an Organization member for nothing and within seconds, he had taken the pin from the boy and crushed it. Panting, he turned an evil eye onto Conan, who was returning the look with a glare.

"So, the ever so famous Kudo-kun still has a few gadgets," he said. Conan didn't say anything. His glasses, detective pin, and the soccer belt were gone. The power-enhancing kick shoes were useless and had been shot by Irish. The bow-tie wasn't much use either, the fact that he couldn't even touch it not helping at all.

Irish looked and felt like punching the boy. He would like to spend the next hour or so tossing the boy around the room, but doing so might endanger his life and Irish knew that he had to bring the boy to the Boss alive. So, instead of unlocking Conan, Irish settled for slapping the boy's face, then said threateningly, "You better not try any tricks, Kudo Shinichi. I know who you are and could give the information to anybody. And I've got a gun and am perfectly capable of shooting anybody who knows anything about you." With that, he strode out of the room.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Subaru Okiya knocked on his neighbor's door.

He hadn't been there ever since that murder case, and had recalled that the little girl had been rather frightened of him when he first came. Okiya's mouth curved into a smile at this thought, perhaps there was a certain reason for her to be frightened of him. Of course, there was always a reason behind everything. Years of reading Sherlock Holmes had convinced him of that.

The old man, Agasa, who was better known as Hakase, opened the door. "Oh, hello!" he said, clearly surprised. Okiya noticed that the man seemed rather tense and less welcoming than before.

"Hakase!" the little girl hissed, then she noticed Okiya. Her shoulders tensed and her eyes showed a definite sign of fear. "H...hello," she murmured. "H...Hakase, c...could you come in for a bit? I d...don't feel very good." She ended this with a rather nice attempt at coughing, and Okiya noticed that she seemed to be starting to cry.

"It's ok, Ai-kun," Hakase said soothingly. He gave an apologizing look to Okiya. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid that we're a little busy right now. Is your business urgent?"

"No, not at all," Okiya said smoothly. "I was just interested in learning a bit more about the owner of the house I'm living in, but if this isn't a good time for you I'll leave immediately."

Hakase gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you." He hustled the little girl back in and closed the door soundly.

Okiya looked at the door with narrowed eyes. Something was definitely up.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"_Due to unforeseen circumstances, this flight has been delayed by 30 minutes,"_ a woman's voice rang out loud and clear over Heiji's head. Heiji immediately crumpled the sheet of tissue paper he had been holding. _Damn it_, Heiji thought. _The flight has to be delayed now? Now? NOW? NOW?_ Heiji struggled to keep his self-control. He had been unable to catch a night flight and had settled for a hotel near the airport along with a ticket to the first flight out.

_Hold on, Kudo. I'm coming._

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Takagi-kun! Will you hurry up?"

Takagi picked up his notebook and hurried to the police car. "Sorry, Sato-san!" he cried. Sato simply sighed. "I still don't get it, what exactly are we doing?"

Sato looked at him seriously. "Do you trust me?"

Takagi blinked, then cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean, do I trust you? Of course I trust you! I'd trust you with my life…" at this Takagi turned a bit red.

"Do you trust my instincts?"

Takagi had no idea where this conversation was headed. "Of course, Sato-san! You're one of the best detectives that the police force has ever had, so of course I trust your instincts!" Takagi scratched his head. "Why are you asking me all of these questions, Sato-san? I'm sure you know the answer!"

Sato-san didn't respond immediately. "Get in the car. I'll explain while we're driving."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"HEIJI? WHERE IN THE WORLD HAVE YOU GONE?"

Heiji held the phone as far as he could and several amused passengers looked over to see what exactly was going on. "You ahou! Didn't I tell you that I was going to Tokyo!" he shouted back.

"Ahou yourself! You yell at the TV screen, say a few random strings of words at me, shut off your cellphone, and storm out the room? You expect me to sit back and not wonder exactly what's happened?"

"_This flight will be taking off shortly. Would all passengers please turn off all electronic devices until further notice? Cellphones, pagers, and all other communication devices are not permitted to be used during the flight so that they do not interfere with the flight and put other passengers' lives at risk…"_

"Or ears," a man murmured, to the laughter of many others. Heiji shut his phone tightly and turned it off, throwing a glare at the man as well.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Takagi and Sato sat in silence in the police car for a few moments. Finally, at a red light, Sato turned to Takagi.

"Remember how I said that I felt there was a third party working somewhere?" she asked quietly. Takagi nodded. "Well I feel that my theory is being proven. Conan-kun's gone and it obviously has nothing to do with murderer since we discovered him unconscious. Matsumoto was replaced by somebody else but we never did find out who that was. Would you…" at this, Sato's voice became slightly shaky, but it disappeared so quickly that Takagi wondered if it had ever happened, "would you be willing to investigate the situation with me?"

Takagi gave her a smile. "I'd be willing to do anything with you, Sato-san."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Vermouth waited until Irish left.

The fool wasn't very cautious, as he thought that everybody was on his side at the Headquarters, and because of that, he was a fool. It was what had led to the downfall of Pisco, belief that everybody on his side wouldn't abandon him, or betray him in anyway. It didn't matter to Vermouth, since it was going to be to her advantage.

As soon as Irish was out of sight, Vermouth slipped into the room. She put her hands on her hips and stared at the boy who was lying on the bed. The remains of something yellow were on the floor, now only mere pieces, and some had been crushed into dust.

"Nice situation you've gotten yourself into, Silver Bullet-kun."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan glared at the woman as she stepped in. He really wasn't all too angry at her, but he did feel the need to press the blame on somebody, and Vermouth had all but offered to be that person. "Gee," he said loudly, anger rising in his voice, "I really couldn't see that. Would you happen explaining why? Or even better, getting me out of it?"

Vermouth smiled. "That's a rhetorical question, so no. As for getting you out, that's a no as well. In case you haven't noticed, we _are_ in the headquarters of the Organization, and I'd rather have my neck intact here."

"So you're just gonna watch me lie on this, this _thing_?" Conan growled. He wanted desperately to lunge at Vermouth, knock her unconscious maybe, but that, of course was impossible.

"Not from a distance, no," Vermouth said as casually as if she was having a chat with a friend over lunch. Conan heard the sound of her boots as they clicked against the floor, coming nearer and nearer. Not that he needed to hear the sound to tell, he could see Vermouth perfectly well.

"So, I suppose Irish caught you?" Vermouth inquired as she stood in front of Conan. Conan could not resist the temptation to roll his eyes.

"As if you didn't know," he muttered.

Vermouth frowned. "Well, if you don't particularly enjoy my company, Silver Bullet-kun, I might as well be on my way," she said, turning around. She took another step or two before she turned around, walked in front of Conan, and whispered in his ear:

"Don't forget to keep your hair tidy."

"What the… how can I think about my hair when I've been kidnapped and held hostage?" Conan yelled. Vermouth put a finger to her lips and winked.

"Good luck, Silver Bullet-kun," she muttered under her breath as she made her way out of the room.

Conan fumed, the nerve of that woman! He wondered what she had meant by keeping his hair tidy. As he flipped this thought over and over in his mind, a new thought began to dawn on him and he glanced at his sleeve.

_Thanks, Vermouth._

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kazuha glared at the phone, which was clenched in her hand so tightly that it was frankly amazing that it had not broken by now.

"YOU AHOU!" Kazuha yelled at the phone, then panting, slammed it back onto the holder. She was pale with worry for Heiji, had he forgotten the omamori that she had made for him? She hoped not, because Kazuha had a very, very bad feeling about this case, a feeling that it was one more dangerous than Heiji had ever undertaken.

However, there was one person who would understand. One person who also had a close friend who was a boy, and a detective freak. Kazuha only hesitated slightly before she put in the number for Ran Mouri.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Hello, this is Mouri Detective Agency," Ran said listlessly.

"_Ran-chan? Is that you? It's me, Kazuha!"_

"Oh, Kazuha-chan, how are you doing?" Ran asked politely.

"_Don't ask about me, ask about you! Conan-kun, what's happened?"_

Ran, for what seemed to be the umpteenth time, repeated the tale of what exactly had happened at Tokyo Tower. After her story, Kazuha's end went silent for a bit.

"_So Kudo-kun was there? Then...where'd he go?"_

"That's a problem that I don't know the answer to. And Conan-kun, kidnapped!" Ran was on the verge of tears now. For the past day or so, her emotions had hovered just below the surface. Now it was in full flood.

"_Have you seen Heiji? He mentioned coming over, to Tokyo, something about Kudo-kun and Conan-kun, he was ever so angry when he saw the news broadcast on Conan-kun, yelled at the TV screen…"_

"No, I haven't seen Heiji. I suppose he's been delayed, the weather's not very good around here," Ran said quietly. "How did he know about Shinichi, though? His involvement wasn't reported to the press, at least that's what I heard."

"_Really? I wonder why. How are the other kids doing?"_

"Genta-kun, Mitsuhiko-kun, and Ayumi-chan seem quite desperate to save him, but the police have said that it was done by a professional and too dangerous to get them involved. Those three seem to be just the same as ever, wanting to solve the case, so I suppose that the news hasn't shaken them too much. It's Ai-chan that I'm worried about, she seems so scared which is really not like her, and she's constantly glancing behind her shoulder like somebody's watching her," Ran told Kazuha all she knew about the case, and the girls proceeded to finish up their talk a good half hour later, with Kazuha promising to catch a flight when possible and come to Tokyo.

As Ran hung up, she was struck by what Kazuha had said. How did Heiji know about Shinichi?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: That was long (for me, maybe not for you)! I wrote a longer chapter this time because, er, just because. There really wasn't that much of a reason. Would you please send me a review on if you would like the shorter chapters I originally had, updated at the very least every two days, this type of chapter updated every three days or so, or a longer chapter updated, maybe every week or so? Thanks. Oh, and please review!

P.S. Can anybody guess what Vermouth meant when she was talking to Conan? It's really rather simple, I'm just curious if you guys can guess it. Cyber-cookies to anybody who gets it right!


	5. Too Many Thoughts

Author's Note: Ok, so I forgot to put disclaimers for my story (sorry!) so here it is:

Disclaimer: In short, I do not own any of the characters or the movie (I'm not adding OCs, except for a couple of Organization members that I needed for the background). I do not own Detective Conan or else this story is what would've happened in The Raven Chaser, except it would have to be made into a completely separate movie lest you wanted to watch the movie for around, oh, 5 hours, give or take a few.

To all Reviewers:

Thanks for your reviews and thanks for those of you who pointed out my really, awfully careless mistakes and reminded me that I really should go back and edit my writing! I'll be editing the previous chapters according to my critics (for which I thank them!) for the next couple of days so I'm afraid that the next chapter will take a bit of time.

MiaHarpy: Wow, I'm stupid. Thanks for pointing those things out, it'll help when I'm going back to edit!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ayumi nearly burst into tears as there was a crunch of sound. "Conan-kun! Conan-kun! _Conan-kun!_" she cried, wailing into the pin. The only response was static.

"I think we may have gotten him in trouble," Mitsuhiko whispered.

Genta snorted. "You think? I'd be surprised if the kidnapper hasn't…" his voice quieted as he noticed Ayumi's face, two thin streams of tears flowing down both of her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Ayumi-chan! I'm sure that Conan's fine!" Genta blurted out in remorse, trying to cover up his mistake. Ayumi responded with more tears.

Mitsuhiko got up and got a tissue from his desk. "It's ok, Ayumi-chan," he soothed, glaring at Genta, who rubbed his head innocently. "Conan's brave and strong, I'm sure he's ok." Ayumi sniffled and took the tissue from him. A few minutes later she brightened up slightly.

"Conan's really brave, he'll be fine, so now what?" Ayumi hiccuped a bit.

"Well, we need a new plan," Mitsuhiko concluded awkwardly. "Communicating with him was a good plan, but we didn't think about it so it may have gotten him in trouble. I propose we…"

"Don't you think it's weird?" Genta interrupted, staring out the window. Mitsuhiko glared at him while Ayumi cocked her head to the side.

"What's so weird?" Ayumi queried.

"Well, most kidnappers would ask for, er money, or in my case, a million bowls of braised eel. But this kidnapper, well he hasn't asked Mouri-san or Ran-neechan for anything, and that means ANYTHING. Not even a tiny bowl of braised eel! It's like, it's like…" Genta frowned in concentration.

"It's like they don't plan to give him back."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hailing a taxi took forever.

In truth, to Heiji, everything took forever that day. It took forever for the plane to arrive in Tokyo. It took forever to get through passport control (_A/N: I don't know much about Japanese airports, and I don't know, do you have to go through passport control? Please tell me!_). It took forever to get out of the airport. And of course, it also took forever to get a cab.

"Oi!" Heiji shouted at the man in front of him. "My friend is in danger! He might even be dead by now! I need the next taxi!"

The man shot a withering look at him. "I don't care if your friend is on his way to ****, I am getting in this next taxi!" he said roughly, pointing at the yellow cab which was on its way towards them.

Heiji was preparing to shout a string of curse words that had his mother heard them, she would've washed his mouth with soap when the window of the taxi rolled down. "Is there a Hattori Heiji here?" a middle aged man asked. "He reserved this taxi and told me to meet him down here."

"Yes, I'm Hattori Heiji," Heiji ran in front of the man to face the taxi driver, slightly bewildered. How did this man know his name? And what was this about? He hadn't reserved a taxi, he'd been in too much of a rush.

The man's jaw dropped open and he pushed Heiji to the side. "WHAT?" he yelled in the driver's face and Heiji was impressed when the man didn't even flinch. "B...but...but…"

"I'm sorry sir, but company rules state that if a taxi driver has a reservation, he is required to follow through with it." Indeed, the man's expression did look sorry. But there was something else in there, something that Heiji couldn't quite place. His eyes narrowed. Who was this man?

The man snorted. "Fine. _Fine_. You," he turned to Heiji, "you better feel lucky because if I ever get my hands on you…" The man made a rude hand gesture that's meaning was obvious to everyone, and only Heiji's confusion about the taxi driver's identity prevented him from returning the compliment.

"Sir, please get in," the driver said with a tinge of annoyance. "I do have a life and I don't believe it's very well spent if we stand here all day." Grudgingly, Heiji opened the backdoor and stepped into the taxi.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The minutes snailed by and the 3 inch long chains rattled as Conan tried once again to get up. Everything still felt like a dream and every time he woke up, Conan forgot temporarily that he was at the headquarters of the Black Organization. Conan cursed and lay back down on the metal table.

Irish entered, jauntily whistling the tune to Nanatsu no Ko. Glancing at Conan, who glared back, he settled down on the seat in front of his computer and took a gulp of the coffee.

"When are you going to take me to your boss?"

The question was blunt, very blunt. Irish nearly choked on his coffee in laughter. "Well somebody is quite straight forward."

"I asked you, when are you going to take me to your boss?" Conan almost snarled at the man. He wanted to know exactly how long he'd have before his "doom day".

"I would very much like to take you to see the boss right now, but unfortunately he's very busy," Irish said, leaning back on his chair. "Besides, he's out and won't be back before 2 days. But what's the rush? I've got my evidence at hand," Irish grinned at Conan, who was lying down stiff as a board, "and it's not going anywhere. So I may as well enjoy the victory that we both now will soon be at my hand. Gin will be demoted, if I'm lucky, he'll be humiliated in front of the entire Organization, Pisco will be avenged, and you," Irish looked at Conan, almost with pity, "you will probably be killed. With a gun this time, not that unreliable APTX4869 that Sherry created. But if not, I'd have great fun playing with you, and I'm sure some of the members would take great joy in doing that as well. I would love to see the look on Vermouth's face when she discovers that you're here."

Conan grimaced. He knew what "playing" meant. In fact, a better term would be "throwing around". His limbs seemed to groan as he thought of that.

Conan needed to escape and he needed to escape soon.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ran bit her lip as she pondered the thought. How _had_ Heiji known that Shinichi was involved? The news didn't report it, and surely somebody who was kidnapped wouldn't bother to call a friend and say that his best friend had been involved in a case. She, Ran, had been the only one at the scene (besides the kidnapper) when Shinichi arrived. A thought passed over her that she quickly shook away. She had considered that notion at least 4 times, each proven wrong, either by a phone call from Shinichi when Conan was there or a visit from him when Conan was present.

Still...it wouldn't hurt to call Shinichi. Ran crossed her fingers as she put in the familiar numbers for Shinichi. Perhaps he had called Hattori-kun after the case.

Almost immediately, there was a buzzing in the room. Confused, Ran crossed over to a red phone that was sitting on a desk. It was Conan's, he'd forgotten it that day in his hurry to get to Tokyo Tower, to get...to get kidnapped. She picked it up and looked at it.

_Caller ID: Ran Mouri_.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ai peeked through the curtains.

She felt that somebody was following her everywhere, and when she went out of the house, she glanced behind her shoulder in fear. Ai thought that perhaps Gin or another dreaded member of the Organization had found out the truth and was after her. Especially that new member, Bourbon. He seemed to absolutely detest her, and Ai didn't exactly fancy him either.

Subaru Okiya was outside of the Kudo home, watering his plants as usual. However, his eyes were sliding suspiciously over Hakase's house and Ai immediately drew the curtains back over and slid down to the ground, panting slightly.

The phone rang and Ai gazed at it fearfully. Hakase hurried out of the lab and with a glance at Ai, he picked it up.

"This is Agasa Hakase's residence, may I ask–"

"_Hakase? We need to speak with Ai-chan right now!"_

"Mitsuhiko! Ayumi! Genta! Why do you need to talk to Ai-kun right now?" Hakase asked, slightly curious.

"_We've got a message from Conan-kun that he asked us to tell Ai-chan about!"_ Ayumi's squeaky voice came out from the phone.

"Conan-kun!" Hakase exclaimed. In a flash, Ai had taken the phone away from him and was speaking into it.

"What's the message, Ayumi-chan?" Ai asked, almost scared of the answer.

"_It was in English, a bunch of English letters, um, it was B, O, H, Q,"_ Ayumi said.

Ai dropped the phone with a clatter and Hakase looked at her oddly. _"Ai-chan? Ai-chan? What happened? Where's Conan-kun? Ai-chan? Ai-chan? Did something happen?"_ Hakase picked up the phone from the ground and said quietly, "Ayumi-chan, Ai-kun's alright. Thank you for the news." With that, he hung up.

Ai was hugging her knees tightly, staring at the ground. Hakase was familiar with the signs. "Is it, is it them?" he whispered into her ear, though he already knew the answer without a doubt. Ai nodded slightly. "Then do you know where Shinichi is?"

Ai turned towards Hakase and Hakase was almost taken aback by the look in her face. "Yes," she replied. "Yes, I know where he is."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Oi, who are you? And how did you know my name?" Heiji asked, arms crossed, to the taxi driver.

"Is it really that important?" the taxi driver asked casually. Heiji saw a mask and the cap that the driver had been wearing being thrown away.

"Where's the real taxi driver?" Heiji asked coldly to the man.

"Tut, tut, tut," the driver said. "There was _never_ a taxi driver. I simply borrowed one of these taxis and came to pick you up with a random alias that I created. The last time I dressed up as Kudo Shinichi, yikes, almost got destroyed by his girlfriend, never again, never again," the driver shuddered and Heiji smirked.

"Whatever. I need to get to…" Heiji started.

"I know where you need to go. Mouri Detective Agency." The taxi paused at a red light and the taxi driver looked back, giving Heiji a turn to look closely at him.

"What the– Kudo!" Heiji yelped in surprise. "Y...you can't be...your back to you...what the ****?"

The driver rolled his eyes. "I just told you that the last time I dressed up as Kudo I almost got killed by his girlfriend. I am NOT Kudo. How'd you become a detective if you're that dense? I'm almost ready to believe what Hakuba's said of you...though to think of it, why did you think that I couldn't be him? Is there any reason?" The driver smirked, almost as if he was sure of the answer.

Heiji's heart was racing. The guy had obviously set a trap for him to bring up the question of Kudo, and Heiji had fallen into it. _Breathe, Heiji, breathe_, Heiji thought to himself. Slowly, he let his muscles relax and his face fall back into his usual grin. "Nope, there was absolutely no reason at all, I was just surprised that Kudo would be back after disappearing for a year."

"Kudo Shinichi did not disappear."

Heiji was silent for a moment. This person obviously knew a lot more than was expected, but Heiji was pretty sure that he wasn't part of the Organization that Kudo ranted about regularly. If he was, Heiji would be dead by now.

"Who are you?" Heiji asked, still unsure if he should put his confidence in this person or not.

"Do you trust me?"

Heiji snorted. "Trust you? _Trust_ you? I've only met you for, like, three minutes, and already you've said quite a few suspicious things, not to mention you pretended that I reserved the taxi, which I did not. How could I trust you?"

"Fair question," the driver said. "In a way, at least, it is a fair question, however, I won't spill my beans until you spill yours. After all, all is fair in love and war!" Heiji rolled his eyes at this comment.

"Anyways, would you be interested in coming to my headquarters and join me in lunch? Perhaps then, I can reveal my identity to you, and you can tell me a bit more about what you know."

Heiji jerked his head in the universal language for yes. The taxi driver smiled and stepped on the car's accelerator.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan was lucky.

Of course he was lucky in a bunch of ways, such as the fact that Gin had not discovered his identity, despite Irish dropping so many snide hints in the copter that day. However, that was mainly due to the fact that Gin rarely remembered anything about anybody he had had murdered. There was also the fact that Irish had decided to wait, probably to delight over his panicking, to send him to the Boss. And of course, their lack of security, not taking away his gadgets in the very beginning. Irish had been overconfident.

In fact, Conan had been lucky from the start, lucky that he hadn't been immediately killed by APTX4869, lucky that few had discovered his identity, lucky that he was still alive at all. And definitely lucky that Vermouth had "just happened" to drop the key (_A/N: No, it is not an actual key._) to his escape.

Conan found it odd that Vermouth had even dared do a thing, knowing full well that she would be exposed as a traitor if she was discovered. Vermouth was odd, very odd indeed, and she was definitely not known for being nice. So why help him escape? She could be murdered for it, and probably brutally too. If it were a regular day, Conan would mull over the thought numerous times until he came to a logical conclusion. However, today wasn't a normal day, in fact it was rather abnormal.

Conan knew he was taking a risk, but today was the best day for it. Irish was still holding back the information on who he truly was, and Vermouth was the only other person who knew. The meeting with the Boss was two days off, meaning that Irish was unlikely to go to other members for help assisting Conan's capture, at least if he wanted to keep Conan's identity a secret for the time being. Thus, it would force Irish to search on his own, lest he give up his pride and take the risk to possibly involve Gin, which Conan found unlikely.

Conan took out Vermouth's present. Irish had decided to leave the headquarters that day, believing that his prisoner had no chance of escape. That was Irish's mistake, and he was going to pay for it. Conan bit back a smile as he began working at the lock with the small hairpin (_A/N: For those of you who got it right, cyber-cookies to you!_). He knew that he had a dismally long process since the hairpin, despite being easily concealed, was not the ideal material for picking locks.

Conan extended his hands to their full extent, which was only just enough to reach the other, and even then the metal cut into Conan's skin and he winced. He had enough bruises, he didn't need to add anymore to them, but it was necessary. Shakily, he inserted the hairpin and began fiddling with it.

It was going to be a long night.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"He's at the Headquarters of the Organization. I...I've been there," Ai murmured, her head down.

"Really, Ai-kun? Then we can rescue him now!" Hakase said, leaping up from the chair he had been sitting in excitedly.

Ai looked away. "I don't think so. There are many entrances, most located just outside of large cities. They're all concealed and each Organization member is only told of one for security reasons. It's an underground Headquarters, spanning throughout almost all of Japan. Besides the Boss, only the high ranking members will know more than one entrance, and even then, the most is 2. No more. I only got to know one of them in my time at the Organization, but that one's probably been demolished by them. Unless they've personally seen to the deaths of traitors, actually shot them and can prove it, they will destroy every single piece of evidence that person may have known. I've seen it happen before, they blow up the entrance completely.

"In addition, their entrances have some sort of password. It can be anything, turning a painting around 3 times, kick a wall 10 times, anything at all. If you get the password wrong, you'll die. Most likely through an explosion," Ai's voice trembled slightly. "I've heard of many people who happened to stumble upon the entrance and do something wrong."

"So there's absolutely no way we'll be able to find the headquarters?" Hakase asked, crestfallen.

"No," Ai said quietly. "Not unless we know somebody who's psychic."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Vermouth was lost in thought as she sat down at a wayside bar which operated by one rule, don't ask no questions, we'll give you no lies. In other words, nobody was every questioned, which was lucky for all the criminals who were known to hang out there.

"_See, Sharon? This is how you play poker," her father gently guided her hands over to choose the correct cards._

"_When you play poker, you should always keep a poker face. Do you know what a poker face is, Sharon?" her father asked._

_The 7-year old Sharon Vineyard looked at the cards eagerly. "Is it that?" she asked, pointing to the jack that was in her father's hands. "See, that little man on the poker cards has a face, not like 1, or 2, or 3…" she trailed off._

_Her father chuckled. "No, Sharon. To keep a poker face means to keep the same expression no matter what cards you have, good or bad. A good poker player is good at disguising his emotions. It's very useful in life too...it's one of the few ways you can keep an emotion that wants to break out safe. Locked up inside yourself."_

"_A poker face…" Sharon murmured. Her father ruffled her hair a bit. "Now, don't explode to pieces over it," he said soothingly. "You'll learn, Sharon, you'll learn. And even if you don't, well, I love you."_

"_Love you too, daddy. You and your poker face."_

Vermouth sighed. The memories were coming back, more often than ever. It was because of Silver Bullet-kun that she saw some hope, however dim, in her future, the hope that the Organization would end, once and for all. After years of being a mere shell, almost a robot who only did what she was ordered to, her emotions were starting to surface more rapidly than ever. Each day, it was harder to keep her poker face on.

"_Aw, Sharon, don't be like this, you'll make daddy feel guilty," Sharon's father stroked her face. "I know you love acting, this is the best school for you, even if you do have to board there."_

"_But daddy, I want to be with you," a 9-year old Sharon whispered._

"_I'll always be with you. I'll be with you in your heart," her father said, pulling her into a hug._

"_How about Mum?"_

_Her father tensed slightly. The two rarely discussed her mother, who had divorced her husband only a few years after Sharon was born. Sharon's mother couldn't care less for the girl and her father had taken her on without the slightest hint of complaint._

"_I'm sure she loves you," he said quietly._

"_Promise you'll be ok while I'm gone, ok?" Sharon asked, pulling out of her father's arms and staring into his clear blue eyes with an unusual seriousness. "Promise that you'll always be there for me, ok? Pinky promise?"_

_Her father chuckled and tousled her hair. "Ok, Sharon. Pinky promise." The two hooked pinkies and sealed the deal._

Vermouth sighed as the bartender brought her a dusty bottle of vermouth.

"_Your father's dead." The woman's cold voice echoed through the hallway and 10-year old Sharon Vineyard glanced fearfully at her, tears at the edge of her eyes._

"_Why?" was the only word she could manage to say._

"_It appears to be a suicide," the woman said very carelessly, showing obviously that she couldn't care less about the child. "Poison, drunk with water. It was quick."_

_Despite her intentions, a tear slipped down her cheek. "No. No. NO!" she screamed, clutching at her hair. "Daddy's not dead! He wouldn't, he promised me he wouldn't, he promised me!"_

"_You stubborn, obstinate child!" the woman cried indignantly. "You're mother's been informed, she'll be keeping you here for now, now off to classes! You're allowed to wear black cashmere, but you aren't permitted to cry in class. Heavens' sake, one would think that a girl in the training of being an actor would have better control over her emotions!" With that, the woman shooed Sharon away._

Vermouth tensed as she recalled the unpleasant memory. Unpleasant was an understatement, for weeks afterwards she had almost thrown fits and cried continuously. Only the threat that she be removed from the acting academy had stopped her from continuing. Sending her to the academy was the last legacy her father had left for her and just to prove she could, Sharon was going to continue.

And then they came in.

_15-year old Sharon woke up at exactly 6:30, as usual. Her blue eyes no longer held the sparkle that they used to have when she was younger. Instead, her eyes held a certain depth, a certain undefinable seriousness, as if all childhood had been torn away from her. She was no longer the carefree girl she had been only a few years ago. Taking her black hairbrush from the rack, she brushed her long blond hair thoroughly, then when she was sure she had gotten rid of all the knots she had had, she tied it into a bun. After washing her face quickly and brushing her teeth, Sharon proceeded down for breakfast and ultimately, classes._

_In the afternoon, there was an hour of free time, which many either enjoyed outside playing games of all sorts, or studying and reading. Sharon had no interest in either activity, rather, she walked around the Academy's campus, her eyes scanning each and every aspect of it._

"_Sharon Vineyard?"_

_A woman with a pair of black gloves and dark sunglasses, along with short dark hair in a red jacket with dark jeans beckoned for Sharon to come into a small patch of trees. Regarding her carefully, Sharon shrugged. Her father was dead, her mother couldn't care less about her, she had nothing that was worth worrying about, and that included friends. She approached the woman._

"_Well, well, Sharon Vineyard, you took me quite a while to find," the woman said with a trace of a smile on her face. "Now, down to business…"_

"_Who are you?" Sharon asked coldly, regarding the woman as if she was hardly worth noticing. "Tell me who you are, or give me some sort of reason to stay, or else I'm leaving."_

"_Well somebody's feisty. The truth is, I'm here regarding your father."_

_Sharon's blood ran cold. "My father died 5 years ago. I'm afraid you're a bit too late to meet him."_

"_No, no, no, I'm talking about how your father died," the woman said, smiling as brightly as if she had just announced that Sharon had won the lottery. "He didn't suicide, he was murdered. Murdered by the very woman that runs this Academy."_

_Sharon's eyes widened, then narrowed. "I don't believe you."_

"_You've got a pretty good poker face for a kid," the woman chuckled. "Now here's the deal, we'll avenge your father for you, girl, if you promise to work for us. This is what you do, very simple. We need the keys for her office, just quickly, so that we can make a copy. Nothing big. You're the only girl who looks the least bit promising, so we'll give you a chance to change your life for the better. Are you up for it?"_

_Sharon thought about it carefully. She'd been in big trouble if she got caught, and this woman, despite the smiles and laughs, wasn't joking around. But then again, her father, the only one who had truly cared for her or loved her in any way, had been murdered by this woman. She deserved whatever she got._

"_I'll do it."_

"_There, that's a good girl!" the woman said. "I'll meet you in half an hour back here, ok?"_

"_Wait. Don't go yet." Sharon's voice was quiet yet commanding, and had a passerby been only able to hear the voices, they would've thought that Sharon had been the leader and the woman the meek follower._

"_You never told me your name."_

_The woman winked. "Bordeaux, honey. Now how about you go fetch those keys for me?"_

After that day, Vermouth had began a empty life of crime, without feeling and with profession. Soon, she was fully accepted into the Organization and given a code name by the Boss himself. And after that her life began to become defined by work, work to keep her identity secret, work to become an actress, work for the Organization. That was all she thought about, at least until Kudo (_A/N: At that time, Yukiko's last name was Fujimine_) Yukiko entered the picture.

"_Hey there! Are you learning disguise as well?" as overly cheerful girl asked as she practically skipped over to Sharon._

_Sharon raised an eyebrow as she looked over the girl. "Yeah. That's what I'm here to learn about, disguise."_

"_Great! Me too," she chirruped. Despite her intentions, Sharon couldn't help but catch on to the girl's optimistic attitude, and for what felt like the first time in years, Sharon smiled. A true genuine smile._

"_I'm Fujimine Yukiko, you?" the girl bubbled, extending a hand._

_Carefully, Sharon accepted the girl's hand and for once she felt at peace, as if she had finally, after years of searching, found somebody who cared. "Sharon Vineyard."_

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: Nearer to the end, I felt like including Vermouth. And guess what, just as I was writing that last piece, I came up with a new idea for a new fic! I claim all rights to writing a fic on Vermouth about her childhood (including the ideas in my chapter), but I won't write it right now, since I'm trying to focus on this. Next chapter the main focus will be on Takagi and Sato, whom I didn't touch upon in this chapter. Maybe a bit about Heiji too. Please review!


	6. Dangerous Discoveries, Dangerous Thought

Author's Note: Thanks to reviews and special thanks to angelwingsonline for several tips.

Again, I will be going back to edit some of my older chapters so I may not be able to update as quickly as before. Not to mention that I have quite a couple of new ideas, though I'm not going to write much about them yet.

Disclaimer: People say that wishes on a shooting star always come true. So every time I see a shooting star, I wish that I could own Detective Conan. I'm sure that it will work. Problem? I haven't seen a shooting star yet. So, despite my wishing, I do not own Detective Conan.

Note: If you would go back to the previous chapter and re-read it, you would find that though Kaito had revealed his appearance to Heiji, he has not told Heiji that he is Kid yet.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ran stared at Conan's phone in horror. How had Conan come to have Shinichi's phone? And more so, how come they looked exactly the same? She had checked Conan's phone before, and though it took her a long time to crack the code, it had obviously not had any hint that it was Shinichi's.

Trembling, Ran hung up on her own side and opened the red phone on the desk. She entered the exact same numbers she had for Conan's phone, but to her immense surprise, the password was wrong. Of course, why hadn't she thought of it. Conan had known that she had "hacked" into his phone, so surely he had changed passwords for both phones. Assuming that he had two phones, one for Conan and one for Shinichi. Ran sighed. Did she have to go through the entire tiring process again?

No. The phones weren't reliable enough. Only one person was reliable enough to help her do research on Conan. Hesitantly, Ran put in the numbers for her mother.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Bourbon."

"Yes, Boss?" Bourbon looked towards the figure clad in dark clothes.

"You know that there is danger of your identity being discovered and quite soon. You must take all precautions against this. There are already many who are suspicious about you, thus you must complete the mission I assigned to you."

"The one on Sherry?" Bourbon's voice held a tint of malice. "Boss, you know that I am doing everything that is within my power to locate and destroy her."

"Sherry is not the most important mission that I have given you. You are one of my more trusted members, Bourbon, and the mission I assigned to you does not appear to have anything to do with Sherry. Rather, I asked you to discover more about the Kudo Shinichi. Have you found anything yet?"

"A few interesting facts, Boss, but nothing very extraordinary yet. However, a detailed explanation will take a great deal of time to go through," Bourbon replied.

"Well, Bourbon, we have all night at your disposal."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The car stopped in front of Tokyo Tower and for the umpteenth time, Takagi looked at Sato with a confused expression on his face. "They've already gone through this case at least half a million times and we've read over all of the reports on the incident at Tokyo Tower, Sato. Why are we here?"

Sato's face was grim and she did not speak, simply motioning for Takagi to get out of the car. The two showed their police badges to the guards at the front, who nodded and let them enter without further dispute. Takagi was quiet as he watched Sato analyze the entire place before nodding as a sign that they could move on.

"Sato-san, why in the world are we here? The police officers have combed the area for the least bit of evidence that the criminal may have left behind and there's nothing. Nothing. Not even a hint of a clue. Even Kudo-kun couldn't get anything out of it," Takagi said as he kept pace with Sato.

"I have a feeling that there's more to the eye than what it seems," Sato said quietly as she took in the scene. "I was hoping that coming to the scene would help us clear everything up."

"But, Sato-san, I doubt that if the entire Division One didn't…"

"Takagi, before we came here, I asked if you trusted me. If you don't trust me, you can back out of this right now, turn your back on this and forget it. I am going to analyze this case in depth, and if you want to turn your back on an innocent boy who's helped the police force numerous times, you can go now," Sato said coldly, pointing at the door. Takagi was taken aback. Never, never in his entire career had Sato-san every spoken to him, not even on the first day when he got there…

Suddenly, Sato's voice took a pleading turn. "Please, Takagi, I need somebody, somebody, somebody to help me, somebody I can trust."

Takagi knew then that he would not be arguing any further. "Only for you, Sato-san, only for you."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Eri Kisaki had just helped another one of her many clients to win a case and she smiled in a self-satisfied manner. It was time to enjoy herself a bit, and she brought out the box of chocolates that she truly loved. They had been sent by Kogoro, probably on accident, but still, they were from him and Eri wasn't one to waste a gift. Thus, she took one of the chocolates delicately from their box and took a bite out of it. The chocolate was almost perfect, exactly the way chocolate (in Eri's book) should be made.

Her phone rang and Eri picked it up happily, noting that it was from Ran. "Hi, honey, how are you?" she asked.

Ran's voice seemed nervous and tense, and she was definitely not in the mood to stay around and chat. "Hi okaasan, I'm fine. Can you please...please research Conan for me? His background, his parents, everything."

Eri frowned. Sure, the kid was rather smart, but was there a need to research the kid's background? "Sure, honey, but why?" Eri asked her daughter.

"N...nothing, kaasan, nothing!" Ran said too quickly. Eri raised an eyebrow, it was rather unlike her daughter to be nervous about a question that Eri asked. However, Eri didn't want to push her daughter into anything and she trusted Ran's judgement.

"Ok, Ran," Eri said gently, trying to soothe Ran. "I'll have it to you within a week, is that all right?"

"Yes, thank you!" Ran exclaimed.

"But, Ran, why did you choose this time to ask me to research Conan? I thought that he was kidnapped, and you haven't received a ransom note, have you?" Eri questioned.

"No, okaasan, I haven't received a ransom note which is odd since you'd think we'd have gotten one by now," Ran replied to her mother. "And, I chose this time because, well, because…"

"It's ok, Ran, if you don't want to tell me," Eri said quietly. "Just make sure you stay out of trouble, ok?"

"Yes, okaasan," Ran sighed. "Goodbye."

And with that, Ran hung up.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kaito was nervous.

Of course, he never showed the faintest inkling of being so, he rather prided himself in being a master at Poker Face, but Kaito was nervous. He had just admitted to a detective (who was perfectly capable of contacting the police and having him behind the bars in seconds) that he was Kaito Kid. He hadn't even told tantei-kun, but here he had confronted a detective whom he had only met once before, and who probably wouldn't even hesitate to put him in jail on the spot.

Of course, Kaito had taken necessary precautions. With the help of Jii, he had placed a rather invisible (and undoubtably satisfactory) shield between the backseat and the driver's seat, so that should Hattori Heiji wish to lunge at the driver, he'd find himself ramming into a flexible wall that pushed him backwards, though not without first showering him with confetti and dye to turn his hair neon green. Kaito was quite pleased with the invention and considered using it at the next Kaito Kid heist.

Kaito, however, still held some of the cards. For the first thing, they were now on a highway and Kaito was the one at the wheel, so Hattori Heiji was pretty much forced to stay on the "taxi". Second of all, Kaito wasn't going to give away his identity yet, rather letting his enemy believe that he was wearing an extra mask, which Kaito had prepared. It was a mask of his own face, which he wore so that he could hopefully trick Hattori Heiji into believing he was using Kuroba Kaito's identity. Finally, he was not taking a possible enemy or ally into his own house, but rather a different location, his semi-headquarters.

Hattori Heiji had not said a word since Kaito had announced that they were heading to his headquarters, which Kaito was glad for. Kaito wasn't quite sure how long he could keep his poker face going, he was tired and stressed out. Kaito much preferred being on a hang glider to driving a taxi; the task was dull and one didn't have much to do while he was focusing on the road ahead. Hattori Heiji wasn't much help either, occasionally glancing to the sides or stretching, but never making conversation. Kaito considered pulling a prank on the boring detective, but (reluctantly) decided that it wouldn't help the situation in any way.

You'd think that if you drove a taxi (which you had "borrowed"), picked up a detective you didn't know by saying he had reserved a taxi, and talked about going to a secret headquarters, the detective would say more than a few sentences.

Kaito sighed and drummed his fingers against the dashboard, absolutely bored. His nervousness was evaporating quite quickly, it never took long. He glanced at Hattori Heiji, who's eyes were now closed, and sighed.

However, his boredom didn't last long. Because soon, there was a crack, a squeal of tires, and the taxi was spinning out of control.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Mouri Kogoro was lost.

He wasn't lost like some people got lost in the mountains, nor had he lost his mind. Rather, he was not quite sure where he was going and what he was doing. Kogoro, despite what many thought, was actually a rathe bright person, just a tad too headstrong as well as too quick to make a decision, accepting the first conclusion that came to his mind.

Kogoro, however, was in a desperate situation now. The brat had been kidnapped by some third gang of people that Kogoro had no idea why. That was something Kogoro didn't like, and his "detective vibe" was at the highest right now. No ransom note, no nothing (_A/N: Yes, I know that technically saying no nothing means that there's something, but most people would say that, so please play along with it._). It seemed like the kidnapper had pretty much kidnapped the brat for no reason, or perhaps just for the fun of it. Kogoro was no amazing detective, but he did know the basics.

Kogoro scratched his head and sighed. He hadn't drank any beer for the past two days, which, according to Ran, was a record.

He just didn't understand.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

It felt good to stretch his legs.

That was Conan's first thought as soon as he had leaped down from the metal table, and it was a relatively welcome one. After being strapped to a table for two entire days, the feeling of fear was beginning to wear of and be replaced by one of boredom. As Irish had said, he was not going to be killed (at least not immediately), so Conan had set aside that fear for now.

The second thought, however, was not pleasant. Quickly, Conan scanned the room. The door had been locked with several bolts, apparently even Irish had high standards for security, though Vermouth had better. There was no window in the room, probably as a safety precaution against outsiders, and the entire room, as Conan had noticed numerous times, was lit be a single stark bulb. There did not appear to be anyway of escaping.

Conan only had three tools on him, the first being his suspenders, the second being the hairpin he had gotten from Vermouth, and the last being...Conan glanced down.

Just a few days ago, Hakase had approached Conan with new sneakers. "Shinichi, I know that you're on a serious case right now," Hakase had said. "So I adjusted your sneakers a little. You usually kick with your right foot, even though your left sneaker is also equipped with the power-booster. Thus, I changed the left sneaker so that you can basically eject the power booster in it and change it to your right sneaker, which gives you an advantage."

Conan managed a tight smile as he bent down to eject the power booster in his left sneaker. Hakase, as usual, had come to the rescue. Within a minute, his right sneaker had been re-equipped with the power booster and Conan was ready to plan his escape.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Heiji wasn't interested in saying anything. It was getting dark, though the highway was somewhat lit by lights.

He still wasn't quite sure exactly who the driver was, though he was sure that he had seen the same face somewhere before. The driver was obviously a master at disguise, the way he had handled the situation back there at the airport (_A/N: I know this isn't the most common way of transportation, thanks to one of my reviewers, but please play with it for now._) had been a perfect reaction from a normal taxi driver. In fact, had Heiji not been positive that he had not reserved a taxi, he would've fallen for the act.

The driver had to be quite smart as well, being able to calculate exactly where Heiji would be and at what time. Heiji didn't want to think about the possible illegal actions involved in the process, mainly hacking of the airport's systems.

However, despite what an interesting character the driver apparently was, Heiji wasn't interested in making conversation. He was trying to figure out exactly where they were going, a way to rescue Kudo, and who the driver was. These things were better off in silence, especially observing the driver to learn who his true identity was.

The driver didn't seem very old, definitely younger than 25, maybe even younger than 20. Heiji shuddered, it was almost frightening that a guy who was definitely either fresh out of high school or perhaps even in high school, would be able to pull all of this off so easily. Again, Heiji marveled at how much of a professional the guy was.

Heiji stared out the window, looking for some inspiration. They had been on the road for perhaps 15 to 20 minutes, on the highway for a bit of that, Heiji certainly wasn't as time conscious as that British brat of a detective, and they were already leaving the main city. Heiji wasn't all too familiar with Tokyo, so he had pretty much zero idea where he was headed.

The driver was fidgeting a little, whether because he was bored or nervous, Heiji was not sure. Either way, he obviously wasn't exactly happy about Heiji being in the taxi, signifying that he probably wasn't exactly a friend of Kudo's, maybe a rival? Heiji wasn't sure.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack, and Heiji's head almost hit the ceiling as he leaped up in surprise. It sounded almost exactly like a gunshot...but Heiji didn't have any time to think about it, because the car began spinning out of control.

The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly, and Heiji could see the drops of sweat dotting on his neck. This was obviously not in his plan, and Heiji knew he was panicking. The driver, however, was quick to react and within seconds he was pulling the taxi to the side of the highway. Lights on, the driver got out to inspect the damage.

Heiji wasn't quite sure if he would follow, but soon he was left with no choice. There was another loud crack and the driver practically fell over, clutching his shoulder. Blood dribbled down onto the uniform and Heiji leaped out of the taxi, running for him.

Another shot rang out and Heiji could instinctively tell that it had been near his foot. The sniper was aiming for him. Ignoring this interesting piece of new, Heiji grabbed the driver and glanced around wildly for somewhere to go. There weren't a whole lot of cars at this time and, consequently, no witnesses. The closest place was the car, not that it would do them a whole lot of good. It appeared to have a flat tire and they would be sitting ducks for the sniper, whoever it was.

The driver panted as he leaned against Heiji. "Forest…" he said, pointing vaguely at the side of the highway. Heiji's eyes followed his hand and spotted the telltale tree tops next to the road. His eyes narrowed. He didn't like the situation, not at all. The sniper would almost definitely strike again, the highway held no protection for them, and the treetops seemed an awful long distance from the ground. Not to mention that he had a companion who apparently had some information on Kudo who had been shot in the shoulder. It might be a graze...but then again, it might not.

Heiji knew he couldn't put off the decision any longer. Already, the sniper might be aiming for them. Heiji, supporting the Shinichi-lookalike, raced as quickly as he could towards the trees. A loud crack told Heiji that another gunshot had just sounded, it was pure luck they weren't dead yet, the sniper had a deadly skill and the shot was barely an inch away from his foot.

Without thinking, Heiji threw himself towards the trees, one hand holding the driver and one hand desperately searching for something to hold on to. After what seemed like an eternity in the air, the duo began to fall back to earth.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ran held Shinichi's phone in her trembling hand. If Conan was Shinichi...if Shinichi were Conan...if they were both the same person...if they had been kidnapped...a thousand thoughts ran through Ran's mind.

Kogoro was out again at the police station, supposedly discussing something with Megure-keibu about the case. Originally, they had asked Ran to come along and describe what had happened at the Tokyo Tower, apparently so that they could understand the enemy better, but Kogoro had protested. Ran hadn't called Shinichi at that time, and Kogoro said that he wanted her to have a bit of time to calm down before she gave a report.

Ran wished that she had gone, maybe then she wouldn't have called Shinichi and spotted the phone.

Something was bothering Ran, and now that she thought about it, if Shinichi and Conan were the same person, how did they both appear at the Tower? If it had been somebody impersonating, how did they do it so well? It was completely unthinkable.

A tear surprised Ran as the warm drop hit her cold hand. "Oh, Shinichi," Ran sobbed, the tears flowing freely now. "Oh, Shinichi, why can't you rescue me from this mess?"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gin was not impressed. Not in the least.

Irish, in his opinion, had done a poor job in the Tokyo Tower. He had brought back a hostage, which the police were sure to notice. That was the problem with newer members, they never had the sense to actually think about covering up their tracks.

Gin sipped some wine from his glass as he watched Vodka flip through a briefcase. At least his own partner wasn't too bad at cleaning up after himself, which was, of course, why Vodka was Gin's partner.

Gin had just dispatched several of the more experienced members to clean up the scene, lest the police find anything that might be of trouble. He had neglected to tell Vermouth of the situation, he didn't understand the woman's motives, and Gin despised anything that he didn't understand, considering it the enemy. For all he knew, Vermouth had turned against the Organization in some way, though he had to admit that the woman truly knew her stuff.

It was all Bordeaux's fault. The stupid woman was almost as bad as Vermouth herself, which was certainly saying something. Every time he thought of her, Gin's finger was itching the pull the trigger on his gun and murder somebody, though he refrained from killing the owner of the bar at that moment, his wine was simply too good. Bordeaux could almost be the mother of Vermouth, the two's attitudes were so similar. If Bordeaux hadn't gone and recruited the **** woman Gin was pretty sure that he wouldn't be in this situation right now. It was lucky that she had already died, or Gin would've tracked her down and shot her right then.

Gin thought back to the hostage. The boy had surprised him, not crying out, no tears, he didn't act the least bit like a kid. It was surprising, not to mention rather unsettling. It didn't help that the boy had glared at Gin like the two had met before and were mortal enemies. Still, it was none of Gin's business. Gin eliminated anybody on "the other side" who knew anything about the Organization, the boy probably just associated him with Irish who had kidnapped him, taking him for a bad guy. It didn't matter to Gin, he had nothing to do with it.

By the time Gin walked out of the bar merely five minutes later with Vodka in tow, his mind was already on something else.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Pinot Noir raised an eyebrow. "Gin wants us to clean up at Tokyo Tower? Why couldn't he just make Irish do it?"

Merlot sighed. "Gin isn't happy with the guy that Irish brought back and everybody knows that the two have been at each other's throats since Gin m'd Pisco. So he wants us to go and do it for him."

Pinot Noir pointed to his eyepatch. "Don't you think he's forgetting something? I can't do UC, it's kind of imprinted in your memory when people think that a pirate is acting as a policeman."

"Gin's orders. We've got to decide exactly how we're gonna carry 'em out. Wear sunglasses, or get one of those hospital patches and say you got attacked when you were on duty or something," Merlot shrugged. "When there's a will, there's a way."

"How about Rum?" Pinot Noir countered. "Wouldn't he be better up to the job?" The other man had learned disguise from Vermouth, much more calm and thorough, and he looked much more normal than Pinot Noir, at least when he took out his silver earring.

"Rum's busy. He's sending some letters today," Merlot said shortly. "Now grab your jacket and get going."

Pinot Noir said something under his breath that sounded very similar to "Stupid high ranked members."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Megure looked back at Mouri-kun, an exasperated look on his face. It hadn't been exactly the best decision he had made to invite the detective over, in fact, it may have been the worst. Megure would much rather have Ran-san there, he was getting nowhere talking to Mouri.

So far, he only had a few bits of evidence. Apparently, the attacker was a tall foreign man who had posed as Matsumoto. When Ran had arrived, Conan-kun was being thrown around for no obvious reason. Ran had fought with the man a bit, and then he had knocked her unconscious.

Megure found everything rather odd. Why, for instance, would the man be throwing Conan-kun around? A kidnapper was much more likely to use chloroform to sedate a child, and Megure personally thought that Conan-kun was one of the most unlikely children to be kidnapped. There was also the other fact, why had Conan-kun been kidnapped? Most kidnappings happened due to two reasons: revenge or money. Megure had gone through all of the files concerning Mouri and the Detective Boys, but all the murderers or criminals were either in prison or had a trustable alibi.

So far, Mouri hadn't even received a ransom note, another point of confusion. Why would a kidnapper go to the trouble of kidnapping a boy who was smarter than most people his age and highly un-childlike, but not ask for anything in return. It was all the more suspicious, and Megure wanted to get to the bottom of the case.

Megure sighed and he flipped everything that Mouri had said about the kidnaping once more through his mind.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Takagi-kun! Sato-san!" a man in a blue uniform called to them. Without hesitating, Sato made her way towards the man, and Takagi hurried to catch up with her.

"We've found something rather odd," the man said, pointing at the staircase. There's sign of a chase that lead outside of the tower, the fresh new bullet holes there are a dead giveaway. It is believed that the victim was chased by the kidnapper to the outside. However," at this the man hesitated before going on, "all of our crew finds it rather weird. A normal kid would've been unconscious if a strong adult had thrown them into walls and pretty much beat them up. Also, how would a kid who was beaten up find his way outside?"

Sato gave a weak smile. "I'm afraid, officer, that you don't know Edogawa Conan. That boy would never go down without a fight, and I'm afraid that according to your observations, he went through quite some fight."

The man nodded and began talking about other aspects of what had happened.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: That took quite a while, and I'm sorry if I made you guys wait too long. For the BO members, I had them use more code words because it occurred to me halfway through that the Organization members would probably be rather tight on security. It would be somewhat difficult to explain if somebody overheard them talking about blackmailing. I included the list of code words that I've used (most are just abbreviations) at the bottom.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and please review! I'm not very sure exactly what Megure calls Kogoro, could somebody please tell me?

m'd: murdered

UC: undercover

sending some letters: blackmailing somebody


	7. Trees, Files, and Old Friends

Author's Note: Thank you, all reviewers! Er, do I have to say anything else? Enjoy (after the disclaimer)! For some reason, I feel that I write better when I'm listening to Detective Conan music...which is kind of weird. Oh my gosh, I just found a place where I can listen to all the DC songs! I'm dying of happiness! Sorry. Back to story.

Disclaimer: It's so bad that in my game of _Life_, I never get the card that says "Own Detective Conan". Oh wait, there is no card that says "Own Detective Conan". I suppose that symbolizes that I will never own Detective Conan (sniffles).

Note: I had all of the names be placed as they would in Japan, last name and then first.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Heiji and the driver plummeted down from the highway, the wind roaring in their ears. Heiji's hand grabbed desperately at the tree branches, which in turn, whipped him, the branches leaving angry red marks on his arms and face. Heiji could not take the time to even wince, even that might declare a death sentence for him.

Heiji's eyes searched, with ever growing despair, for a branch that was strong enough to hold two people's weight. Catching sight of a larger branch, Heiji threw his hand out to grasp it, knowing that he had only a chance in what felt like a hundred to grab it.

The driver, however, wriggled at that moment, and Heiji found that only his fingers scraped the bark. Heiji's eyes widened and time seemed to slow down as his fingers slipped from the bark and the two began their free fall back to earth.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A shiver ran through Aoko's body and she paused momentarily to ponder why. Keiko looked at her oddly. "What's wrong, Aoko-chan?" the bespectacled girl asked quietly. Aoko shook herself and smiled reassuringly at her best friend. "It's nothing, Keiko, nothing. I just had a bad feeling about something." For some reason, Aoko moved her hand up to her right shoulder subconsciously, almost as if something had happened there. That was impossible, wasn't it?

Aoko brushed the feeling off. Surely it was nothing, right?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Haibara shivered.

The threat of the Black Organization was constantly in their lives now. Sure, Haibara might not have a single thread of evidence that Subaru Okiya was Bourbon, besides her powers of intuition, she might never have even met him, but Haibara was near positive of who Subaru Okiya's true identity was.

_Kudo, you are such a fool. How can you let somebody you barely know live in your house? Do you know how much danger you've put yourself, and everyone around you, in?_

Haibara was putting in more hours at the lab then ever before. She was working on the permanent antidote for APTX4869, as well as her own secret project. Not even Hakase knew what she was doing half of the time, though the old man was nice enough to refrain from asking about it.

Quietly, Haibara left the computer and then went along the stairs. There were no windows in the lab for security, safety, and ensured privacy. There was, however, a hidden window on the stairs. Invisible from outside, it would open with Haibara or Hakase's fingerprint and a password, which both of them changed regularly. Closing the door to the lab, Haibara carefully peeked through the hidden window.

He was there again. Okiya Subaru. No, Bourbon. Haibara was almost positive. As usual, he was in the garden, watering his plants as if it was an ordinary day. But Haibara knew better. His eyes constantly flitted towards their house, and Haibara was well aware of the date as well.

It was exactly one week before she had escaped.

It had been two years ago (_A/N: I'm not sure about dates, neither the anime nor manga specify, and Conan's solved too many cases that it's impossible for him to do it within a year. If anyone knows, please tell me!_) on this day that Miyano had been assigned her final task. The task that would take her life and destroy her sister's soul, though at that time, neither of them knew so.

Akemi hadn't told her. If Akemi had told her...Haibara clenched her fists. Her sister was stubborn, there was no chance in changing the facts. But...perhaps...perhaps if Akemi had told her, then she would've been able to convince her otherwise.

_Miyano Shiho, better known as Sherry, sat at the edge of the cafe, her expression bored. Suddenly, a familiar woman walked in, smiling cheerfully at her. Akemi waved at her, everything about her radiating the same warm feeling. Sherry's eyes narrowed. She had never understood why her sister never stopped smiling._

"_Shiho! It's great to see you out of the lab!" Akemi smiled. Sherry looked to the side. "I...I got a job…" Sherry's eyes widened and her head snapped back "...nothing dangerous, just a bit of research and stuff," Akemi shrugged._

"_How's Dai-san?" The question was direct. Akemi's smile faded, replaced by a face that portrayed betrayal and hurt._

"_I...I suppose he's fine," Akemi said quietly._

_Sherry turned her head back to the window._

If only...if only. But Haibara knew better than to dwell on the past. It didn't help, in fact, it could be quite dangerous, just as Kudo-kun had proved when she had made that stupid phone call to her sister's apartment.

But she was running, oh there was no doubt in that. She was continuously running from her past, running as far as possible from the Organization. What had Ayumi said before?

"_I know it's dangerous. But I don't want to hide."_ (_A/N: I'm not sure if this is the exact quote, because I watch all the episodes and movies in Japanese with Chinese subtitles. I'm pretty sure that it was "don't want to hide" or "don't want to run" though._)

Haibara's eyes narrowed. Ayumi was right.

This time she wouldn't hide and she wouldn't run.

This time, she would be the one standing up to her fears.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kaito was not in a good mood.

They had been driving to the headquarters when the tire on the right side somehow blew open. For some reason, Kaito was almost certain that it was no accident. The tires were new, so it couldn't have been that. Despite the fact that his conscience was screaming at him to not go, he turned on the warning lights and stepped out of the taxi.

That was when somebody shot him.

It was a shot on the right shoulder, just about missing the fatal blow to the heart. Kaito was down, something he felt slightly embarrassed about, though it was no time to think about it. He glared at the distance, positive that the shot had come from a rifle, probably from the distance, judging by how the sniper had missed.

Then that baka detective jumped out of the taxi and grabbed him. Kaito wanted to yell at him to stay away and that it was dangerous out here. The sniper hadn't fired another shot yet, which probably signified that he had anticipated that Hattori Heiji would jump out. The sniper shot at Hattori, but it missed. Kaito would've gotten up but past experiences warned him that he wouldn't be any help if that happened, rather he'd be a nuisance.

Hattori Heiji grabbed Kaito and Kaito winced slightly. Still, he kept his cool, and through pants, he pointed his uninjured arm at the sides of the highway. "Forest," he muttered through pants. It was a long shot, but they were sitting ducks on the highway. The detective heard him and the within seconds the duo were hurtling down.

Hattori Heiji seemed to be scared, at the very least, he wasn't the best at manipulating himself to grab a branch. He kept on missing, and in normal circumstances Kaito would've allowed himself a snort or two, but this was a matter of life or death. So Kaito twisted around in Hattori's hand, grabbed a strong branch with his uninjured hand, and grasped Hattori's shirt by the other hand, wincing as he did so. Then, somewhat unsteadily, he managed to climb onto the branch.

As soon as Hattori caught his breath, he started yelling at the magician. "What were you thinking, you ahou! You could've gotten us both killed! I was reaching for a strong branch and then you come in and ruin the whole thing! You are such an ahou!" Kaito winced. Hattori Heiji was almost as good as Aoko at yelling, at that was saying something.

Kaito grimaced. "Look, tantei-han, we are stuck in a tree that is who-knows-how-high, and I am the only thing that is keeping you from falling and being flattened like a pancake. Now would you SHUT UP AND LISTEN?"

Heiji fell silent.

Kaito sighed.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Bourbon."

"Boss."

"Have you done it?"

"Yes, I've done what you asked me to do."

"Good. You may continue your search for Sherry."

"Thank you, Boss."

"I will give you the aid of Gin. I'm sure you will appreciate it?"

"Yes, Boss. Thank you, Boss."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"There! How do you think, _Kichida-san_?" Merlot chided. "Vermouth couldn't have done better!"

Pinot Noir, or rather Kichida Takuya which was the alias he was using today, glared back at Merlot through one eye. Merlot had "borrowed" one of the patches that was used by hospitals for patients who had somehow hurt their eye, which Pinot Noir was wearing in place of his pirate-like black eyepatch. "It's...fine…" Pinot Noir said through gritted teeth.

"Great!" Merlot practically danced around, which suited the person that he was using as an alias. Sasaki Yuuto, a hyperactive fictional police officer, pretty much based off of Merlot's own character. "Now let's go through all of the information one more time."

"Name...Kichida Takuya. 42 years old. Birthday, February 19th. Divorced. Police Forensics and Evidence Officer for 2 years," Pinot Noir recited in a bored tone.

"Good! Now my turn," Merlot cleared his throat. "Name...Sasaki Yuuto. 37 years old. Birthday, September 21st. Not married. A new Police Forensics and Evidence Officer who is on his first case," Merlot declared dramatically.

Pinot Noir ignored Merlot's speech. "We should get going to ToutoTower (_A/N: a.k.a. Tokyo Tower, see note below._). The car's waiting." With that, Pinot Noir spun around on his heel and walked away.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"I don't get it!" Sato said in utter frustration. "I just don't get it! Whoever kidnapped Conan-kun must've been an expert, there's simply too little evidence to discover what happened!"

"It's been two days…" Takagi said awkwardly, regretting it as soon as Sato turned her eyes on him, her eyes blazing with fire.

"Exactly, Takagi! Most kidnappers, no, almost all kidnappers would've contacted Mouri-san by now! But _no_, the kidnapper we run into has to not contact us, at all! Takagi, you don't think, you don't think…" Sato's voice faltered and the fire in her eyes dimmed somewhat, instead showing something different. Takagi recognized it as despair. Despair that they would ever solve the case. Despair that they would allow a criminal to escape unpunished. But most of all, despair that they wouldn't be able to get Conan back alive.

"Excuse me, would you mind showing us your police IDs?" the man at the front of the Tower asked. Sato and Takagi looked towards the entrance, at first thinking that he might be addressing them. Instead, the man was talking to two strangers, a man with light brown hair that was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and a more serious looking man with a patch over his eye. The two consented and produced two very familiar looking blue pocketbooks along with their IDs.

Sato walked up to the two men. "What Division are you part of?" she asked, almost coldly. "I don't believe that there are any new people in Division One, and I certainly don't believe that Division One asked anybody else to be on this case."

"Oh, of course, ma'am," the one with light brown hair gave an almost mocking bow. "It's just that…"

"We're backup from the Forensics and Evidence Department, they dispatched us to help on this case since so little evidence was found," the other man cut in. "I'm also here to show our new officer the works, and if he's lucky he'll actually find something," the man continued, nudging the other slightly in the stomach. "

"Yep!" the man with light brown hair said, not the least bit less cheerful despite his partner's criticism. "See, I already have gloves on, and I'm ready to work! My name's Sasaki Yuuto, and it's a pleasure to meet you. What's your name?"

A bit taken aback by how this officer was reacting, Sato hesitated slightly before she replied. "Sato Miwako. Police Detective of Division One. And my partner, Takagi Wataru," she answered, waving her hand at Takagi. "No matter. Takagi-kun, let's go take another look around." For some reason, Sato didn't trust those two men from Forensics. There seemed to be something, something that was dark, cold, and mysterious about them. Not having seen Sasaki Yuuto wasn't a big deal, since it was his first case, but she had never worked with the other man, which was quite odd. The Department for Forensics and Evidence worked quite closely with Division One and with the number of cases she had been assigned to, it was near impossible that she hadn't seen him.

Sato felt that the third party that had kidnapped Conan, whomever they were, were surely getting closer.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gin approached the Boss cautiously. You never knew, perhaps it might be the day that the Boss decided you were useless and decided to murder you right there on the spot. The Boss was even better than Gin at murdering, and he knew at least a hundred ways to disguise the scene so that it looked like suicide.

"Gin, well, Gin," the Boss practically smirked. "It's been a long time since we've had a little chat, hasn't it?"

Gin shifted slightly. "Yes, Boss. All your orders have either been on phone or through another member."

"So, may I ask exactly what you've been doing during this span of time?" the Boss asked. "Surely you haven't been lying back when I haven't given you orders, enjoying a tan? That wouldn't be the least bit like you, Gin."

Gin stiffened. "No, Boss, I've been quite busy with my work, thank you." Gin didn't like where this conversation was headed.

"No matter." Suddenly, the Boss' voice seemed much more business-like. "You're in charge of our next big mission. I would've handed the responsibility to Vermouth, but she's in a tussle because of something else.

"So, Gin, would you be willing to aid Bourbon on his mission to eliminate Sherry? I believe that he has fresh new evidence, and would gladly appreciate your help in this little project of ours. Eliminate the traitor, and of course, everybody else who knows anything about her past."

Gin blinked. This was not what he was expecting. It was a chance to bring the woman, the woman that he hated beyond compare, that he hated more than ****, down to her knees.

"Yes, Boss."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Megure had the information.

Sato and Takagi had returned from the scene with new information regarding a chase outside and revealing that the kidnappers had most likely escaped in a helicopter. This fact was pretty much confirmed by statements from a local citizen regarding seeing a darkly colored helicopter, almost invisible, flying through the skies as he came back from the grocery store.

Now Megure was considering exactly what to do with all the evidence that his officers had gotten. He had plenty of files regarding the case that were…

Right here.

Megure's eyes widened as he saw the empty filing cabinet which he had cleaned out just for the case. All of the data that his officers had collected in the past few days, every single detail regarding what was now popularly known throughout the police station as "The Conan Case", was gone.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Takagi had never heard Megure so distressed before.

"WHO IN THE WORLD DID THIS UGLY DEED! THE *******!"Megure yelled. All the police officers in the station looked up and those who were near enough glanced over worriedly.

"THE FILES ARE ALL GONE! EVERY SINGLE LAST DETAIL ABOUT THE KIDNAPPING CASE! EVERYTHING!" Megure shouted, his face red as a tomato. "All the files are missing, everything! How are we supposed to conduct a search for Conan-kun if we don't even have the most basic details about the case!"

Sato came running up, her face pale, and seeing her, Takagi followed suit. Within seconds, the entire Division One had come up to Megure's desk to see what was happening.

Sato was practically shaking. "Sato-san…" Takagi wasn't sure exactly what to say. He had never saw her act this way before, in fact, most times she was stronger than he was.

"All the files," she whispered. "All the files on Conan-kun. How will we find him now? Oh, Takagi-kun!" she cried, flinging her arms around Takagi, who had gone beet red by now. Many of the younger officers turned away from the devastating news about Conan-kun to give Takagi 'the look'.

"I knew it," she whispered. "I should've told somebody. I knew it. Somebody infiltrated the police station. Those men at Touto Tower, it was probably them. They were sent there to cover up their tracks, destroy all the possible evidence that would point to them."

"Sato-san, you couldn't have known that they weren't police officers…" Takagi began.

"But I did, Takagi, I did! I knew perfectly well the entire time that they couldn't be police officers from the Forensics and Evidence Department! It's impossible! If only I had said something, if only…" Sato's voice faltered.

Megure stood up. "Ok, officers," he said in a serious tone. All of the police officers turned to look at him. "I want Sato-kun (_A/N: Megure usually uses the honorific -kun. I'm not sure if he does that for Sato, but since he uses it, even for girls, that's what I'm using here._) and Takagi-kun in charge of the overall case. Shiratori-kun, Chiba-kun, you are to assist them when needed. We need to get those files back, or else make new ones in replace of them, and fast. If we don't…" Megure stopped talking.

Everybody knew what "the worst case scenario" could be.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan was ready for action.

He had a difficult plan to do, a process that would take at least another hour to complete. It wouldn't be easy to escape the room, in fact, it would be rather difficult. There was at least several locks and bolts of some sort, all requiring passwords, and judging by the normal "Organization standard", they would all be different ones.

The door had been reinforced so that it would be near impossible to knock it completely off. The locks could be picked with the hairpin that Vermouth had given him, but the bolts were impossible to pick. Using the suspenders could possibly allow him to pull the door off its hinges, but it would be noisy and time-consuming; by the time Conan managed to open the door, there'd be at least a dozen people waiting outside.

Conan surveyed the room one more time, his observant eyes scanning it, ensuring that he had not left any trace of where he was going, and that he had not missed any possible weapons he could use. Conan gazed at the ceiling, and then his eyes landed on something that he hadn't been able to see from the metal bed he used to lay on. A smirk lit his face. He had a new plan, a better one.

It was time to get going.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Hello. This is Mouri Detective Agency. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we aren't taking in any cases at this moment. Please contact a different Detective Agency for help. Sorry for the inconvenience," Ran said dully into the phone as yet another potential customer proposed a case. They weren't taking in any cases with Conan gone, there had been no argument regarding that.

The phone rang again and Ran's head drooped in dismay. If this kept on happening, how was she supposed to get out and search for Conan? Ran wasn't the type of person who was satisfied in staying at home, she needed to be out there and helping in some way or another.

"Hello. This is Mouri Detective Agency and we aren't…" Ran began.

"Ran! It's me!"

"Okaasan!" Ran exclaimed. "Why are you calling?"

"Oh dear, have you forgotten so quickly? You called me concerning Conan-kun's files, and I have come back with some news for you," Eri Kisaki replied.

Five minutes later, Ran had ended the phone call. Conan had perfect files, everything from the names and careers of his parents to the schools he had gone to and clubs he had participated in. There was, however, something that her mother found unusual. The files were perfect. And that was the problem. Nobody, but nobody, included so much detail and precision in their files, which almost flashed a neon sign that read "FORGERY".

Ran wasn't sure she was doing the right thing in researching Conan's background, especially when he was kidnapped and unable to make a case for himself. Of course, he had probably been lying to her from the start and she shouldn't feel any compassion for that liar…

A tear dropped onto Ran's hand and she blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected herself to cry. She immediately brushed it away, resolve hardening inside her. Shinichi must have some sort of reason for keeping this away from her, he must. It was not in her position to question his motives. Ran tucked the information about Conan's odd, possibly forged, files into the back of her mind. That was the least important business right now.

What was most important was getting Conan back.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Get us down from here!" Heiji shouted at the driver. The two were now situated on the branch, both contemplating outrageous plans to get them out of the trees.

The driver shot a disdainful look at him. "Don't you think I would've done that if I could, you baka?" he snapped. _Baka_, Heiji noted. _More of a Tokyo dialect, this guy must be from Tokyo._

"You'd think a detective would be more observant than that! How'd you become meitantei of the West that way? Kudo Shinichi is much better than you are!" The driver's sharp words brought Heiji rushing back to reality. Heiji would've balled up his fists if he hadn't been holding on to the branch for dear life. It was also this fact that kept Heiji from shouting back at the driver, he appeared to have valuable information, and making him fall out of the tree would not help his chances of gaining it.

"So," Heiji said after a moment of awkward silence. "How are we going to get out of this tree?"

"What do you think?" the driver flashed a smile, which Heiji found awfully odd. Most people stuck in a what feels like hundred-meter-high tree with a wound in their shoulder don't usually smile. "We climb."

Heiji gulped. That had been the exact answer that he had not wished to hear.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"It's been a while, Chris." Kudo Yukiko glared down at her former friend's 'daughter', and Vermouth couldn't help but flinch.

"Yes, Yukiko. It's been quite some time," Vermouth replied to the usually cheerful woman. The two hadn't met ever since Sharon Vineyard's 'death'.

"Don't bother hiding it, Chris, or might I say, Sharon," Yukiko's icy tone was almost more than Vermouth could bear. "I know the truth. I can't believe…" Yukiko's voice began breaking, and a single tear slid down her cheek. "I can't believe it, you were doing everything behind my back the whole time!" Yukiko yelled at Vermouth, standing up. Vermouth was suddenly very glad that they were in a private room. "All this time, all this time, Sharon, you've been doing it behind my back. I thought we were...I thought we were friends," she whispered.

Vermouth wished that Yukiko would revert back to the yelling. She could barely stand the silent anger, the disappointment, the betrayal that radiated off her former friend.

"Yukiko, the past is the past," Vermouth tried desperately to calm down her only friend. "I've come here on business, serious business, and yelling at me for the mistakes I made will not help us solve this problem." Vermouth glanced around. "Are there any security cameras or listening devices around? This is a top secret meeting, I do not wish for anyone to be able to listen in to what we're talking about."

"No, Sharon, there are none," Yukiko said, still eyeing her friend warily. "Speak freely."

"It's about your son."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: Again, another chapter that took me a week, between research, writing it, editing it, and squeezing in school work somewhere in between.

Note: I changed Tokyo Tower to Touto Tower, because despite most who watch the English version, in the original movie, it is known as Touto Tower. As I have said before, I have debated quite a bit of time on which one would've been the best to use. In addition, I tried to make it more Japanese, changing the names so that they are in last name and then first name order. I apologize for any mistakes I may have made along the way.

Please Review!

P.S. Cyber-cookies to anybody who can guess how Conan is going to escape, though I must say, it may take some imagination because I did not include it specifically in details on the room and all. It, in my opinion, is rather simple, though if you haven't read some of the books that I have, you may have difficulty figuring it out.


	8. Out of Immediate Action

Author's Note: Thanks to all reviewers! This chapter will mainly feature the characters I haven't mentioned a lot before.

Sorry for the long time without an update! I went on vacation for a week and just got back, which is good because if I had gone any longer without typing out some of my ideas I would've died :P. I'm really sorry for the long time without an update, I've had a case of writers' block...and vacation...and school work. Anyways, enjoy!

P.S. From now on, the thoughts from Bourbon will be more in depth and detail, since we're getting more into the story. Just a heads up.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"A grocery store!" Genta shouted, immediately fumbling through his small blue backpack. "I'll go grab a couple of snacks!"

"Genta!" Mitsuhiko shouted, reaching his hand out, hoping to catch Genta before he ran into the store. However, Genta was too quick, much quicker than usual, completely due to his stomach. Mitsuhiko put both of his hands back on his knees, panting.

Ayumi ran up to Mitsuhiko, also panting heavily. "Where...where'd Genta go?" she asked between breaths. Mitsuhiko pointed in the direction of the store and Ayumi huffed loudly. "He can _still_ think of doing that at this time?" she nearly shouted.

The Detective Boys, minus Haibara and Conan, were heading out towards Touto Tower to examine the crime scene. This had originally been Ayumi's idea, which the boys both readily agreed to, for more than one reason. They had been on a taxi for a while until they got caught in a serious traffic jam and decided to get off and walk.

Genta came skipping out of the store, laden with two bulging white shopping bags, full to the top. "Genta!" Ayumi said disapprovingly.

"Gomen, gomen," Genta said hurriedly. "I couldn't resist, besides, we need energy to get to Touto Tower. We've been walking _forever_. Can't we take a taxi the rest of the way? There's no more traffic jams right now."

"We were going to, Genta," Mitsuhiko put his hand to his forehead as he stood up straight. "Until you ate all of our money."

"Hey!" Genta said indignantly. "You two could've actually _told_ me the plan, and why in the world did you leave your money with me? You _know_ I would've boughten food along the way!"

"We were going to tell you," Ayumi said with her arms crossed, "but you were so far ahead that we didn't manage to catch up immediately."

The Detective Boys looked at one another and sighed. They were in for a long walk.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kudo Yusaku was worried.

Yukiko had gone out several hours ago without any warning, only a mysterious message: _"I'll be gone for a few hours. I'm having dinner with a colleague. It's about Shin-chan. Good luck with your writing."_ Yusaku had tried (and failed) at least 7 times to contact his wife, and he was getting worked up about it. What were they talking about? What had happened to Shinichi?

On impulse, Yusaku phoned one of his best friends, Hakase. The phone rang five times before Hakase picked up, and during this seemingly vast period of time, Yusaku paced across the floor.

"Hello?" a tentative but familiar voice came from the phone.

"Hakase! (_A/N: Wait, does Yusaku also call him Hakase?_)" Yusaku exclaimed. "You're sure in a nervous state today! Now tell me what all this mysterious business surrounding Shinichi is about." Yusaku was happy to hear his old friend's voice, but a little bit anxious. Hakase sounded guarded, as if something bad had happened and there was a highly likely chance that they would be the next victims. Yusaku was familiar with how soon-to-be-victims sometimes acted, and it didn't help his nerves in the least.

"Yusaku...have you seen the news lately?"

It was a rather odd question and Yusaku laughed awkwardly. "But of course, Hakase! You know that I constantly keep up with world news, though I nowadays neglect to read the Japanese newspapers. Is there a problem?"

There was more silence, and then finally Hakase answered. "You wouldn't find it in the world news, Yusaku, only in the Japanese news, it's not quite that serious, or at least the officials don't think it's that serious, yet. However, many, if not all, of the police here are quite concerned about the case."

Yusaku frowned. "That's good to know, my friend, but you have so far avoided the topic of exactly _what_ the case is. Tell me, Hakase, what the case is about and how Shinichi is concerned with it."

There was a pause.

"Shinichi has been kidnapped."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"What does this have to do with Shin-chan?" Yukiko asked through gritted teeth. She wouldn't have come here on her life if it hadn't concerned her son.

"If you have been reading the local Japanese newspapers, you would've known that your son is missing, or rather, has been kidnapped by a certain member of a certain Organization," Sharon, or Chris, or Vermouth stated. "It's made all of the headlines since your son is relatively well-known due to the number of cases he has solved with the Detective Boys and the closest to catching Kaitou Kid."

Yukiko stood up, her face pale. "Shin-chan?" she whispered. How had she not known that her own son, her only son, had been kidnapped by somebody?

"I can't give you much information," her former friend continued. "I do not know much about your son's kidnapping, besides what is known to the world. For that, I am sorry." Yukiko could tell that her friend was truly sorry. "This is the end of our meeting, I'm afraid. Goodbye, Yukiko."

"Wait." Yukiko's tone wasn't quite cold, but it wasn't the warm sound that most would expect from a friend. "Why are you doing this?"

Yukiko thought that she saw a flash of pain go through her friend's eyes before the poker face slipped back on. "Maybe it's because I want to make up for my losses. Maybe it's because I'm sorry. Or maybe it's because…

"Maybe it's because you've been my only true friend."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Pisco…" Irish murmured.

He was sitting on the bed of a nearby hotel. He would've stayed with the boy but he disliked the fact that the boy was constantly glaring at him with those dagger eyes as if he was his worst enemy, which thinking about it, he was.

"My revenge for you is almost complete," Irish said, a grin creeping onto his face. "Gin will get what he deserves and you will be avenged. The boy, I don't know what will happen to him, but it was his mistake to be involved in any of this, and it's not our business."

There was a buzz and Irish glanced at his phone. His grin grew wider as he scanned the message, and he snapped the phone shut happily. "It's been confirmed," he whispered to himself, as if he had been worrying about this all along.

The phone buzzed again and Irish flipped it open and read the message. A frown appeared on his face and his brows furrowed slightly. "But why?" he muttered.

It didn't matter. Whatever it was, Irish was sure that his fate was decided.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Bourbon yawned. He'd been up all night with Gin, investigating Kudo Shinichi. With a couple of skills that he'd learned in his training with the Organization, they managed to hack into the police computers (without appearing on the police's systems, of course) and acquired valuable information regarding Kudo Shinichi.

_Kudo Shinichi. Last seen at Tropical Land with Mouri Ran. Likely connection with Mouri Kogoro, who's rise to fame came around that period of time. Has been listed under missing, though quite possibly dead, has been missing for about 2 years. Has solved around 3 cases in that period of time, always requesting his name not to be mentioned…_ Bourbon scanned through his notes. It was a rather queer case, but Bourbon would get to the truth. After all, _"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,"_ quoted directly from Sherlock Holmes himself.

Bourbon knew that Kudo had supposedly been murdered by Sherry's APTX4869, and marked to be dead by her as well. But something had happened in the new scientists' lab, an extraordinary result that only happened to 1 out of some thousands of the white rats. Bourbon didn't know exactly what, but it was told that the rat hadn't died of the poison. Bourbon had sufficient evidence to say that whatever had happened to her had also happened to Kudo Shinichi, and that no doubt that two of them were hiding somewhere, probably under a different identity. He only had to find out what had happened to the rat, come to a conclusion with that, and organize a few people to take out the Meitantei and the traitor. More people would be assigned to the meitantei: he'd have to be neutralized and taken to the Boss, but Bourbon grinned as he thought of what he could do with Sherry. It would be fun...and easy. He'd just have to hope that Sherry hadn't died of her own accord yet.

The detective, though, might pose a problem. His father had good connections, and if Kudo managed to hook up with a few of them than they would be in serious trouble. In fact, Bourbon wouldn't be surprised if Kudo had already messed things up for the Organization already. Vermouth had become odd ever since her mission for Sherry failed (he had done a bit of research on that as well, but the entire mission had been covered up fairly well, even for Organization standards. All he knew was that it had been a hunt for Sherry). Gin had dispatched a large amount of searches for Sherry, and each one of them ended up with nada info, even if they originally had sighted her.

Bourbon yawned. Even the best Organization members needed sleep, and Bourbon stumbled off towards his comforting bed. All he had to do now was to find out what had happened to those lab rats.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hakuba was worried.

Kaito hadn't appeared in class today, even though he'd found his locker stuffed with confetti and loud trumpets blasting in his ears, including a note that had been pasted (literally) to his face. After he had managed to peel it off (trying not to curse at the same time) it turned out that Kaito had been considerate enough to use material that would be difficult to rip. The side effect was that it was difficult to take off. After appearing at the classroom five minutes late and apologizing to the teacher, he had sat down stiffly in his chair with bits of paper on his face and read Kaito's message.

_Hakuba...san? tantei? ahou? baka?_

_I have gone away to a magic convention and will not be at school for the next few days or so. If I am lucky, I will be back by the end of the week, but you should not count upon it, so kindly relay my message to sensei. Arigato._

_-Your mortal enemy and friendly class magician_

Hakuba had the notion that Kaito's disappearance was somehow related to another rather interesting character: Edogawa Conan. Kuroba Kaito had been very interested in the boy somewhere in the middle of his Kaitou Kid career (if Hakuba's suspicions, which he was quite sure of, were correct). Hakuba had looked him up and noticed that when he had not been present (and was running away from screaming girls in England), Edogawa Conan had come to many Kid heists, and was noted as the one who had come closest to catching Kaitou Kid. His family might've been in on his mission, since Hakuba had called Kaito's mother in order to confirm what Kaito's message had said.

Hakuba had researched Edogawa Conan in depth, and was not surprised to discover that he had a good friendship with Hattori Heiji. He recalled that in the Detective Koushien they had whispered to each other frequently, talking about who-knew-what. An odd action to receive from a grade schooler, but then again, everything about Edogawa screamed the words "odd" and "suspicious".

Hakuba had researched online for Hattori's residence and now picked up the phonebook of Osaka (_A/N: I don't know, do they have phonebooks in Japan?_) and found the Hattori residence. Within a few minutes, he was equipped with Hattori's cellphone, since he did not seem to be at his house at the moment.

The cellphone rang several times before it was picked up, but there was no Osakan-accent coming through it. Instead, there was a rustling and a couple of snaps. Hakuba listened into the phone intently. "Moshi moshi?" he ventured.

"You ahou!" The voice was so loud that Hakuba held the phone away from himself, then narrowed his eyes. Was the Detective of the West calling him an idiot? "You ahou! What were you thinking, telling me to step there?"

Hakuba was bewildered. What in the world was the Detective of the West talking about?

"Geez, are you acrophobic or something?" a familiar voice yelled back. "We would be down from this tree if you weren't so slow and clumsy! How hotheaded are you, throwing us off the highway?" Hakuba's eyes widened. Off the highway?

"In case you forgot, it was your idea, ahou! I am NOT acrophobic! Heck, I was hanging off a cliff and managed to pull myself back up, with another person as well!"

"Well, oh Mr.-I-Pulled-Myself-Off-A-Cliff, why can't you do it now?"

"Trees are different from cliffs! And it's getting dark, I can't exactly see where my foot is going!"

Hakuba listened for a few more minutes before the other end went dead, perhaps from the phone scraping against a tree and hanging up or going out of battery. There wasn't anything else that provided any insight on where they were going or what they were doing.

So the Detective of the West had come together with Kaitou Kid? That was interesting, he had never expected them to get together. The question was not how they had gotten together, but why they had done so. There had been something about a highway and there'd definitely been a tree, but that wasn't specific enough. Sighing, Hakuba turned on the TV, hoping to hear some good news for once.

"_An hour ago, a taxi was discovered, abandoned, on the middle of the highway leading out from Tokyo,"_ the reporter was saying. _"There was nothing to indicate a struggle and no witnesses were around. The taxi was reported by a passerby, who had driven up to the car to see what had happened. The police would like anybody with any information regarding the driver to step forward as a precaution. And now, back to the case of the currently missing Edogawa Conan._

"_There have been no sightings of this apparently brilliant child, who has been the closest to catching Kaitou Kid and solver of many puzzling murders and other crimes. His guardian, Mouri Ran, continues to beg for his return, and the mother, Edogawa Fumiyo, who is not present for interviews, also begs for his safety. She has announced that she is willing to pay anybody who has information on his whereabouts…"_

Hakuba blinked. He knew where he was heading now.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Okiya peered at Agasa Hakase's house one more time, noticing nothing out of order, besides the fact that the little girl rarely came out of it. Once he saw a girl and two boys, one thin and one fat, knock on the door and the old man come out to answer them, but they didn't go in. The girl seemed to be pleading and the man was continuously shaking his hand, looking somewhat unhappy but refusing to let them enter.

That boy didn't come either. He had, apparently, been kidnapped at Touto Tower by some third party for some unknown reason. Okiya, personally, took great interest in the boy, he had so much potential and there was an air of mystery that surrounded him; he was simply too smart to be a kid. Okiya wasn't surprised that the boy had been kidnapped, in fact, he was astonished that he hadn't been kidnapped before now (at least not by a serious kidnapper), a boy with such skill could help an illegal organization so much…

Okiya sighed. It was time to get to business.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jodie Starling was getting herself a cup of coffee when she first heard the news.

The FBI was on watch for any suspicious activity committed by known Organization members, but there hadn't been much going on. Thus, Jodie was taking a break in the US for two weeks, and it had been going pretty well. Jodie was somewhat frustrated that there was no news, it was in her nature to want the criminal association in prison as soon as possible.

She was at the FBI headquarters, listening in for news as she did every 3 days or so. However, the news that she got wasn't quite the one she had been waiting for.

"Jodie! Jodie!" one of Jodie's friends, Anita Larson came running up, her brown ponytail swinging. Jodie turned to her friend with a smile. Anita Larson always had more energy than was needed and had never really outgrown her bubbly nature from high school. Granted, she was a bit younger than most FBI agents, but she was quite responsible and smart, and Jodie didn't doubt for a second that many guys had a crush on her.

"Hey Anita, what's–" Jodie noticed how pale Anita looked. "What's wrong?"

"Jodie, we've just received news from Japan," Anita said, panting slightly. Jodie's eyebrows shot up.

"What is it about?" Jodie said quickly. She wasn't sure if Anita knew much about the Organization, and she wasn't going to risk her friend's life on a matter that didn't concern her.

"It's got something to do with a kid who's recently been kidnapped. The kidnapper was a third party, the kid apparently was involved with a murder case and while the murderer was found at the scene, unconscious, he was missing," Anita said in one breath.

Jodie frowned. That was important news, she was sure, but why did it have to do with the FBI? The FBI wasn't responsible for kidnapping cases, at least not those in Japan. But if that was so, why did Jodie feel uneasy about the entire kidnapping case?

"Does that have anything to do with us?" Jodie asked.

"Yes, James said so, he said you'd know. Don't you? The boy's name was Conan or something like that…"

The color drained out of Jodie's face. "Get Andre Camel here now," she said briskly, her face still pale. "We're leaving for Japan on the next flight."

"But, Jodie…" "I'm sorry Anita, but this is a personal business. Please…" Jodie's voice faltered somewhat and became more of a pleading tone.

Anita stood up and nodded slightly. "'kay, Jodie, I'll get Camel here for you. Don't get yourself killed, okay?"

Jodie smiled. "Since when have I tried? I'll stay safe, promise."

"Good."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The Detective Boys looked up at the massive Touto Tower. It had taken them an hour, but they'd finally reached their destination, and for that, they were grateful. All of the snacks that Genta had bought had weighed them down, but if they ate it all, they'd get a stomachache and probably get hungry later. Thus, they walked slowly to the tower, with several heavily loaded shopping bags full of snacks and legs about to collapse.

They walked up to an officer who was dressed in a blue uniform, staring off in the distance. "Keiji-san," Ayumi said hesitantly.

"Oh, hi kids!" The officer smiled at them. "I'm sorry, but the site is off limits right now, we're having an investigation regarding a kidnapping case…"

"We know," Genta interrupted. "The boy kidnapped was our friend, Conan. We're the Detective Boys and we want to see the crime scene so we can figure out what happened."

The officer was smiling hard at their innocence, and obviously trying not to laugh. "I'm sorry, kids," the officer said sympathetically, " but I'm afraid you can't go in. The officers haven't found much yet, the kidnappers didn't do a great job but he didn't leave us much to go on either. I suggest you kids go home."

"But–" Mitsuhiko started to protest, but the officer picked up a walkie talkie and started speaking into it, temporarily ignoring the children.

The officer sighed and tucked his walkie talkie back into place. "You were saying?" he asked, turning back to Mitsuhiko as patiently as he could.

"We don't have any money and we walked a long way just to get here," Mitsuhiko explained. The officer groaned. "If you let us go in for a while, then we can examine the scene _and_ you can call our parents."

"You think you can bribe a cop into doing something for you?" the officer growled, obviously not very happy with them. "Sorry, kids, but I'm not going to let you in. It's my job to keep people out and I won't sacrifice it for a couple of kids."

"Then we've got a problem," Ayumi said, crossing her arms. "Besides, you don't know _who_ our parents are, so you can't exactly call them, can you? If you let us in for fifteen minutes, though, we'll give you our parents' phone numbers and we'll all be happy."

The officer ignored the little girl and instead spoke into the walkie talkie one more time. "Hello? This is Takahashi, I've got a couple of kids who need a ride home...a girl and two boys. What do they look like? The little girl has a headband and brown hair...one fat boy one thin...hmm? Yoshida Ayumi, Kojima Genta, and Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko? Takagi and Sato? Hmm...ok." The officer put the walkie talkie back and looked back at the kids with a triumphant smile on his face. "Well, kids, I guess I win…" his mouth dropped down in surprise.

The kids were gone.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Unbeknownst to anybody, there was quiet movement inside Irish's room. If one had pressed their ear close to the door, they might've heard something creaking open or something small hitting the ground. But nobody bothered to do it.

In the room, somebody smiled.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hakase was worried about Ai.

She had locked herself up for the past 2 days since Shinichi was kidnapped and had only come out for meals. Ai had refused to see anybody, and insisted that all the curtains were drawn, lest anybody attempt to discover what was going on. She also insisted that Hakase bring one or two gadgets with him as self defense, though Hakase joked that he was too old and slow to even use them. At this, Ai's eyes had narrowed, and Hakase hastily corrected his mistake to upset her.

Hakase didn't know why she thought Okiya Subaru was a member of the Organization. Personally he felt that Okiya was a pretty decent person, polite and steadfast, smart but humble. He wouldn't have minded taking Okiya under his wing...but Ai had been absolutely terrified of that particular idea. Okiya had studied some sort of defense (to some extent) but Hakase couldn't get used to the idea that Okiya could actually kill somebody.

He wasn't sure what Shinichi thought of him either. Shinichi had let Okiya live in his house but that could be because of a number of reasons, ranging from friendliness to paranoia. Hakase wished that Shinichi was here, that nothing had happened. The threat of the Organization was more real than before, it was no longer a distant memory but a battle.

_Shinichi. Everybody here is falling apart. Come back soon._

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The officers had scavenged as much information regarding the Conan Case as possible. Even so, they had lost valuable information, and there had been such a large increase in cases that they hadn't time to photocopy each one. None of the officers had photographic memory so everything had to start from scratch, a fact that Megure was not pleased with.

"Here," Sato said, dumping a few more files on his desk. "I've re-copied as much of the information that I could remember as possible, and I made photocopies, as well as type everything onto my computer." Megure gave her a grateful smile, one that was rarely seen nowadays. All of the officers were working over-hours now, mainly Takagi and Sato, along with Megure and sometimes Shiratori. There were bags under all of their eyes as they rushed to work as soon as they got up and rarely got home under 10.

The pictures had all been stolen, and that was indeed a great loss since there was no easy way to restore them. Megure's computer had also been wiped (as he discovered to his dismay an hour after he found the files to be missing), and that was where most of the information had been stored. The officers were rushing to get all the data they could in, but they didn't have much to go on.

"Sato-san…" Takagi stood at the doorway, seemingly nervous. "Er, um, it's time to go to Touto Tower, we're um, going to um, try to take, um, pictures of any evidence left."

"Hai, Takagi-kun, give me a moment," Sato said to her partner, who nodded and left Megure's office. Sato turned to Megure, a sharp glint in her eye, which told Megure that she was serious.

"Megure-keibu, be truthful to me. Is it possible to gather enough information to save Conan-kun in time?" Sato gripped Megure's chair tightly.

Megure glanced around. "Sato…"

"I want the truth, Megure. Be straight with me."

Megure sighed. "I'm sorry, Sato, but the chances are slim to none. We've no contact from the kidnapper, and I'm afraid that...well, it doesn't look very good. We've recovered some of the information, thank goodness, but it isn't enough and we can't be sure that everything is precise. Sato...I'm afraid this case may become a dead end."

Sato's face paled and she spun around without another word.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: I don't think I need to say anything, besides that I don't really know what Megure calls Sato. Please review, and thanks to those who have!


	9. Searching

Author's Note: Ok, I'm back on a pretty much once-a-week update basis now. That is, I hope. Thank you all reviewers.

Wow, just noticed the date. I am way behind schedule. Ok, I'm going to have to finish this today.

Anyways, enjoy!

P.S. I've recently created a new community called "Top 20 Best DC Fanfics". If you know good fanfics, please PM me the title and author, or put it in a review as a side note. For more information regarding how the community works, please see my profile and/or the community summary. Staff are welcome.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Sato was quiet as she and Takagi drove to the Tower. Takagi glanced at her questioningly as they arrived at a red light, his dark brown eyes asking the most obvious question. Sato knew it, and she knew it well, but she pretended not to take notice and instead told him to keep his eyes on the road.

She was contemplating what Megure had said about the chances of them rescuing Conan: slim to none. Sato clenched her fists and bit her tongue to keep from screaming in anger, fury, and agony. Conan was so young, he didn't deserve to die. He was such a great help to the police, so smart, so intelligent, so amazing, to a point where he was almost freaky…

What was she doing, thinking of Conan like he was on his deathbed, or perhaps even in a coffin? Sato shook her head angrily, trying to rid herself of the thought.

Conan had to be alive. He just had to.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ayumi took one final glance at the officer, who was looking at the sky as he talked through his walkie talkie. They really hadn't had much time to think of a plan, and Touto Tower really wasn't a place where you could sneak into. After all, there was only one entrance and most sane people would not walk all the way up the stairs unless it was an emergency. So the Detective Boys were playing Plan B: run. Thus, they ducked under the "Keep Out" tape and raced for the elevator.

With Genta lugging the two white grocery bags (which Ayumi and Mitsuhiko had insisted he carry lest he want them to throw them away), Ayumi and Mitsuhiko made a beeline for the elevator. "Hurry up, Genta!" Mitsuhiko stage-whispered as he held the elevator door open. It was getting dark and the investigation had finished a day or so ago, so there were few officers in the Tower and none (besides the guard at the entrance) were at the bottom floor. No lights were turned on but it was still light enough to see.

The Detective Boys piled into the elevator and Genta (who had temporarily let go of the bags) pressed the highest button. The elevator doors slammed shut and the elevator started moving upwards.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Jodie! This way!" an officer shouted above the wind as he pointed to a small aircraft the FBI (with James' permission) had prepared.

"Camel, hurry up!" Jodie yelled at the man who was walking unsteadily towards them (_A/N: Does anybody know what Jodie calls Andre Camel?_). She held her left hand up to block the wind as she made her way towards the airplane, sliding open the door and entering it.

The inside of the plane was rather spacious, in fact, it looked rather like first class. However, Jodie didn't bother to contemplate the aircraft, instead, she hoisted her suitcase up above into the storage compartment and sat down heavily.

Minutes later, a worn looking Andre Camel made his way onto the airplane, panting slightly, his tie loose. Jodie shot a quick glare at him before proceeding to look outside at who-knows-what.

Jodie couldn't concentrate on the flight ahead; her thoughts kept on drifting towards the young boy, both eerily and amazingly smart. She clenched her fists slightly as she wondered what the boy was going through, and who had had the guts to take him on. If she knew Cool Kid as well as she thought she did, the boy wouldn't go down without a fight. Who had dared to kidnap him? And why?

Jodie's thoughts widened, and she began to ask herself a question she hadn't thought of ever since their first few encounters. How did Conan become so smart? Why was he so smart? Who exactly were his parents? Why did he care so much about bringing the Black Organization down? No matter how much she tried, Jodie couldn't help but shake off the thought that Edogawa Conan had something to hide, something much deeper and darker than she could ever imagine.

As the officer cleared the plane for takeoff, Jodie had one last thought before they were airborne.

_Who are you?_

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ran couldn't stand it anymore.

Sure, she'd promised herself that she wouldn't pursue the thought that Conan was Shinichi anymore, but she knew from the start that she was going to fail in accomplish that, not just any way, but miserably. Ran couldn't sit still and just wait, it simply wasn't in her nature. Sure, she supposedly had waited for Shinichi to come back for years, but that was different. This time she _knew_ that Conan was in danger, knew beyond a thread of doubt. Yet, she was helpless to take any action.

Ran sobbed into her arms as she thought of the two of–no, just Shinichi, not the two of them. "You don't understand, do you?" she whispered between heart-racking sobs. "Do you understand what it's like to feel so...so helpless, so alone? How do you paste a smile on your face everyday, Shinichi? Why won't you tell me anything? Do you know how much pain I feel every time you phone? Do you know how bittersweet I feel, each phone call saying virtually the same thing, telling me to wait? I love it when you phone, I love hearing your voice, I love _you_. But...but each time is just a painful reminder, a reminder that I can't see you, I can only hear you.

"Do you even care?"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gin smoked a cigarette as he waited.

As usual, he arrived several hours before time, scouting out any people that might have been there, along with any listening devices that might've been attached. When Gin was satisfied, he leaned casually against his Porsche, smirking slightly.

Now all he had to do was wait.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The Boss sighed as he thought of what had happened between Irish, Gin, Vodka, and Vermouth, not to mention many others. Having arguments with people who were supposedly on your side was never something good, especially with an illegal organization. They were all amazing in their own field, Gin at assassination, Irish was moderately good with disguises and martial arts while he was amazing at research, Vermouth at disguise and assassination, and finally Vodka at illegal transactions and assassination. All very good indeed, but their skill was useless if they were using it against each other.

The Boss pulled out his phone and pressed in the familiar numbers for Gin. The phone rang twice before he answered.

"Boss."

"Gin."

There was silence on both sides for a few seconds, before the Boss finally spoke. "Is Bourbon with you? I thought I asked you to keep him with you while you were investigating Kudo Shinichi."

There was a pause on the other side. "You could say that I'm...waiting for him," Gin grunted into the phone.

The Boss raised an eyebrow. "Is that so, Gin? If possible, would you spare a few of your precious minutes into eliminating any weak links that we might have in the Organization?"

There seemed to be a smirk coming from the other end. "Of course, Boss. In a way, you could say that I'm already doing it. What if I suspect weak links in the upper class of the Organization?"

The Boss leaned back in his chair. "Report the names to me. I will make the final decision on whether they live or die."

"I suspect–"

"None of your nonsense about Vermouth!" the Boss snapped. "I've heard enough from you, Gin, about Vermouth betraying us without a thread of evidence. Now go, or you'll be the one dying a painful death."

There was silence for a moment.

"Yes, Boss."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Phew!" Hattori said as he jumped onto the forest floor. "Finally down!"

Kaito winced as he landed on the floor, despite an obviously soft landing. He clutched his shoulder and Heiji (after stretching a few times) noticed that his companion was in pain and went over to help him stand.

"Thanks," Kaito said through pants, at the same time rather annoyed that his...accomplice was so slow at noticing the fact.

"No prob.," the Detective of the West said jauntily. "Ok, so now, where to?"

"We have to hurry," Kaito murmured as he leaned against Heiji. "It's getting dark and I'd rather not have to find the safe house with all the...creepy things that might pop out of nowhere. We're still near the highway but I don't think we should risk trying to climb back up, if the sniper's still there then we're good as dead. The safe house should be…" Kaito winced again, and his grip on Heiji loosened as he slumped to the ground.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Oi! Oi! Taxi driver! Mask wearer! Whoever you are! Wake up!" Heiji shook the unconscious driver fiercely. "Great! Just great! Go ahead, lie there while we stay here and wait to get eaten by ferocious, still-unknown-to-mankind beasts!" Heiji felt infuriated by the very fact that the taxi driver wasn't waking up. He sat down on the ground and glared at the man, willing him to suddenly wake up and tell him where the safe house was.

Heiji noticed a thin trickle of blood coming from the cut that the bullet wound had made on him. "Damn it," Heiji cursed under his breath. The amount of blood had lessened as they made their way down, but the fact that it was still bleeding was a bad one. If that thing got infected Heiji would have one heck of a job trying to make sure the driver stayed alive. Hopefully the driver hadn't gotten any splinters or such things into the wound. Heiji felt a bit guilty now about how he had shouted at...whoever he was...without even thinking about the bullet. However, regretting it wasn't going to help.

Heiji glanced at the material that the man's shirt was made of. It didn't look promising. In order to disguise as a taxi driver, the man had had to wear a suit, and suits didn't make good bandages. Sighing, Heiji ripped a part of his own cotton t-shirt off, saying between gritted teeth, "Kudo, you and whoever this guy is both really owe me. This was my favorite t-shirt…"

When Heiji was done with the bandages he assessed the approximate direction that the driver had been about to point to, judging by where his eyes had been looking, which side of the tree the driver had told them to head towards as they climbed down, and other minor details. Heiji picked the driver up carefully and began the long walk through the forest.

Slowly but surely, Heiji disappeared into the trees.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Irish glanced at his clock. 8:30 AM. Time to get going. He would've liked to get up earlier, preferably before anybody else had woken up, but he knew that the earlier he got up, the more likely he would stand out. Thus, he had chosen a time when he would be seen by only a few people, yet would not be imprinted on the staff's memory.

His meeting with the Boss was scheduled for tomorrow. He also had something else to attend, something that he was somewhat worried about, despite telling himself that he would be ok, that there was absolutely nothing to worry about. What was he kidding himself? Irish slammed the small suitcase on his bed. He had a bad feeling about the meeting.

It didn't matter. It was time to get going.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Chardonnay."

"G...Gin…" a shaky voice replied.

Gin paced slightly, enjoying how he was frightening the other. "The Boss contacted me today."

"Y...yes? Did he g...give me something to do?"

"No, Chardonnay. He gave _me_ something to do," Gin smirked.

"D...Did he?" Chardonnay made a bad attempt to chuckle. "W...Well then, I suppose that I'll be on my way." Chardonnay turned around, only to see that Gin was looking him straight at him, gun pointed between his eyes.

"Do you remember your last mission, Chardonnay?" Gin asked calmly. Chardonnay made no reply and instead kept his eyes on the gun, though he knew perfectly well that it was impossible to dodge a bullet at this close of a distance.

"Y...yes, I remember my last mission." A drop of sweat trickled down from Chardonnay's forehead: the last mission hadn't gone very well.

"You lost 2 men. We spent a week covering the entire situation up. The police almost discovered our existence."

Gin smirked. "Of course, you haven't done much worse than some others that I know." His eyebrow twitched as he thought of this. "However, Chardonnay, before we say goodbye, I'd like to tell you one last thing.

"You are the weak link in the chain."

There was a gunshot and all went silent.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Sato and Takagi had made their rounds in Touto Tower, but the inaccuracy of their data was evident, especially regarding the evidence. Much of it had apparently disappeared, perhaps misplaced by the Forensics and Evidence department, perhaps taken by the people who had cleared the cabinets and wiped Megure's computer. As Takagi made yet another discouraging X-mark to signify that the evidence was no longer there, Sato started heading towards the elevator.

Sato pressed the button, but was somewhat surprised to find that the elevator was already coming up. She checked her watch and noted that while it was getting dark, it was not the time she had arranged with the sentry outside to call them back down if they had spent a long time up there. Frowning, she was about to take a step back in case there were any intruders, but there was a sharp ding and the elevator doors slid open.

Sato blinked, her hand had already been subconsciously reaching for her handgun. However, before she had time to draw it, she saw that there was nobody in the elevator, or at least she thought. Before she gained a chance to look down, something crashed into her and Sato stumbled.

"Gomen, gomen...Sato-keiji?"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The crackling of fire. Warmth, even though he was shivering slightly. Light. Was it morning already?

"Oi, you awake?"

Was it his mother? No, his mother didn't have such a low voice, and she definitely didn't address him as 'you'. And the light...too dim to be sunlight. So, what was it, and where was he?

Kuroba Kaito bolted up, and a blue jacket fell off of him. It was night and Hattori Heiji was poking the fire with a stick. The Osakan detective glanced at him as he looked around at the woods.

"You're finally awake. Geez, you passed out for a long time. Very annoying, by the way, I couldn't find exactly where you safe house was so I had to settle for letting you rest up until you were conscious. You've been out for 3 hours or so, my watch broke on the way down and my phone ran out of battery. I searched your clothes for something to contact the police with so that they could rescue us, but all I came up with were a whole lot of weird gadgets of some sort. There was this phone but it was pretty banged up and unusable…" Kaito felt his eyebrow twitch as he listened to the detective rant. Just how long did he have to go on for?

"...anyways, I was thinking that we should get going? How's your shoulder by the way?"

So the detective had finally remembered that he had an injured...well, accomplice was usually the word Kaito would use, but it didn't quite fit here.

Kaito glanced at his shoulder which had, to his surprise, been bandaged relatively well. Tensely, he attempted to move his stiff shoulder around, but flinched at the pain.

"I don't think you'll be able to put much weight on it for now, but it'll heal if you rest enough. The wound wasn't deep, thank goodness, but there might've been something on the bullet 'cause it got infected. I had a bit of disinfectant about me, so it turned out ok...I think. You'll be able to walk, and hopefully you won't faint on me again." The detective gave a bit of a snort, which Kaito did not need to hear to know that the detective wasn't really happy with him.

"Since when did you become the boss of me?" Kaito asked through gritted teeth. The detective's eyes narrowed, but both stopped just short of a fight as they realized their situation. Kaito stood up and was glad to find that the Osakan had been considerate enough to allow him to keep his jacket (he had been worried that the Osakan might've taken some of his gadgets). Everything was in place, and Kaito smiled as he took out one of his favorite ones, a key chain that was more or less a replica of the painting found in his room. It also had Kuroba Toichi on it and concealed something he found handy, especially in situations like this.

Carefully, Kaito touched 4 different points on the picture, which then spun and revealed something nobody would expect to be in there. Kaito took great relish as he saw the Osakan's mouth drop wide open at the sight of the gadget, which he knew was equal to (or perhaps, he thought, even more advanced) Tantei-kun's gadgets.

"That way," Kaito said simply, pointing towards their right.

Hattori looked at his gadget warily. "What is that?" he asked. "I don't think that you'd need something that complex for a compass."

Kaito shrugged it off. "It's much more complex than a compass, you baka. It's a GPS and locator, along with a spot for a tracker and listening device, not to mention a very small emergency escape mechanism…"

"You're Kaitou Kid, aren't you?"

The question was blunt, very blunt, and Kaito wanted to laugh. It was, however, something that he had expected from the Osakan detective.

"Why would you say so?" Kaito asked, continuing to keep his Poker Face on, though he personally thought it quite useless against Hattori at this point.

"Well, first of all is your dialect, which reveals that you live, and quite possibly were born, in Tokyo, which is where most of the KID heists are. Second is your appearance, you stated quite clearly that you weren't Kudo, even though you look a lot like him. He's told me that you impersonated him a couple of times. Third is the number of gadgets that you have on you. I'm pretty sure that no ordinary guy has that many gadgets on him on a regular basis, and it's obviously regular since the pockets were concealed quite nicely, including plenty of storage space for separate ones. There's a large amount of pranking stuff, but there's also smoke bombs and sleeping gas, which I'm pretty sure that _nobody_ carries around regularly, but they appear to be similar to those that KID has used. If you say that you're some FBI agent or something of the sort, I'd counter with the fact that you have no identification on you, which an FBI agent would likely have at all times. Need I go any further?"

"Ah, but Hattori Heiji, what's the chances that I, perhaps, am an undercover agent? If I were working for some intelligence group, would I constantly bring identification? No. But is it possible that I would bring numerous gadgets concealed quite nicely in my outfit? Yes," Kaito smirked. He was totally loving the poker face.

Hattori frowned, as if contemplating this new theory. "You could just as well be a cold-blooded and ruthless murderer," he pointed out.

"Or I could be a KID fan. You'd never know, and you'll never know if you and I don't settle down and call a truce. I have the upper hand, Hattori Heiji, because I know a whole lot about you that you don't know about me. I could name your childhood friend's name, your parents' names, professions, habits, appearances, likes, your habits and personality, oh pretty much anything. You, however, have seen my real face, though I'm not afraid of that since I am perfectly capable of blackmail and I have information that I can choose whether or not to reveal. So, tantei-han, shall we call a truce?" Kaito leered at the Osakan detective.

Hattori blinked twice, then his eyes narrowed. "Fine. Temporary truce. _Temporary_ truce. What's the betting that I won't run to the police and tell them immediately of what's happened right here and what you have in your pockets? What's going to stop me from that?" Hattori challenged.

Kaito grinned. He absolutely loved Hattori's immediate reactions to everything. "Easy," he drawled, taking out a picture of a girl with a ponytail and bright eyes. Hattori's hand immediately went to his omamori, which he found was missing from his neck, and now dangling from Kaito's finger.

"WHAT THE H***!" Hattori yelled as he tried to snatch the picture back. To his surprise, Kaito let go of it, and Hattori grinned back at him with triumph in his face...only to discover that Kaito was yawning and holding yet another picture of Kazuha. Hattori turned purple with fury.

Kaito grinned. Even in the most dire circumstances, teasing the Osakan detective was still rather fun.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hakuba was nervous.

Ok, so he was well known for his etiquette and skill at solving mysteries, as well as coming close to catching KID and his love of Sherlock Holmes. But Hakuba had never really...well, he had never exactly _tracked_ somebody before, and that was what was making him extremely nervous.

If Hakuba had bothered to ask a passerby, they would tell him that he looked highly conspicuous. Hakuba wore round sunglasses and his deerstalking cape (which he had always kept in his closet). A pair of binoculars hung around his neck and his attire aroused many people's attention. The taxi driver raised his eyebrows as Hakuba flagged down the taxi, whispering instructions on where to go. The driver was even more surprised to have Hakuba get off at a highway, though he didn't have much surprise left in him after the outfit.

Hakuba stood at the side of the highway where Kaito and hothead-san had supposedly fallen down. There didn't seem to be any very great indication of the possibility that they had fallen, a few twigs broken here and there, but nothing that was definite. No smoke, which meant no fire, either indicating that Kaito and hothead-san weren't up, or they hadn't set camp. Suddenly, Hakuba felt unsure of himself. His deductions were rarely wrong, but how could he put so much trust in a one-sided phone call? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

There was only one way to do it, and Hakuba grimaced as he got out the important material he had hoped he didn't have to use from his backpack. He'd done some research last night and he was pretty sure that the information was accurate to a point where injury was highly unlikely. However, if his information was wrong, Hakuba might be stuck for quite a while.

Taking a deep breath, Hakuba tied the rope several times around the bars on the edge of the highway, gave the rope a firm tug, and slowly but surely started descending.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author's Note: Finally another chapter done! I was so behind schedule but I didn't notice it until today, so sorry for the delay.

In case you were wondering about time (as of the last section with Hakuba):

Days Since Conan's Kidnapping: 2

Hours Since Hakuba's One-Sided Phone call: 13

Days Haibara has Been Locked in Lab: 1 1/2

Days Kaito has Been Researching/Taking Action: 1 1/2

Hours Since Heiji has arrived in Tokyo: 15

There is a slight time difference since Hakuba would most likely not chance an operation in the darkness. This will be more obvious in the next chapter in which we'll still see Sato, Takagi, and the Detective Boys. Besides that, most of the events take place at the same time.


	10. Unexpected

Author's Note: Again, if you've got any good stories that you think might be able to get into the Top 20 DC Fanfics, please PM me, or put it in a review! The stories are put in depending on how many people recommend them, the number of good reviews, and the opinions of staff members. Just because a story got into the Top 20 does not mean it will stay there since it is edited every 2 weeks or so.

Disclaimer: If I owned Detective Conan, I'd probably be making this a full-length movie. Taking into consideration the fact that I'm not, and the fact that I'm posting this under fanfiction, I do not own Detective Conan.

Just for clarification, Sato and Takagi arrived earlier than the Detective Boys due to speed of vehicles.

Oh, and I have a question. Just how many of you would kill me (or rather point a gun at my head and make me continue writing) if I put this on hiatus?

Thanks to a suggestion by my beta reader, all side-notes/footnotes are now at the bottom of the story. Starred sentences indicate a note.

P.S. There is a hint of ConanAi at the end of this chapter, partially for my beta reader, but there are NO pairings for this story. There'll also probably be a bit of ShinRan at the end of the story. Again, NO pairings. There might be a degree of romance in the epilogue, but this is an adventure story, not romance. Just some clarification.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"S...Sato-keiji!" Ayumi exclaimed as she looked up into the familiar face of one of her favorite police officers from the ground.

"Ayumi-chan! Genta-kun! Mitsuhiko-kun! What're you doing here?" Sato exclaimed, holding the elevator door open with one hand and helping the little girl up.

"W...We…" Ayumi was at a loss for words. How was she supposed to tell a police officer that they had disobeyed the law and entered a crime scene without permission, even though Ayumi felt they had sufficient reason? Ayumi blinked.

"Sumimasen, Sato-keiji," a voice came from behind. Ayumi looked back to see Mitsuhiko, head bowed down with significant remorse. "We wanted...we wanted to investigate Conan's kidnapping so we...so we…" Mitsuhiko couldn't go any further.

Thankfully, Sato seemed to get the message. She patted Ayumi's head lightly and then scolded her teasingly. "Young lady, if you and your friends hadn't solved so many mysteries before and been such a great help to the police, I would put this on your permanent record!" Then Sato squatted down. "It's okay, just don't do it next time."

By then, Mitsuhiko and Genta had stepped out of the elevator and the doors slid closed. It started heading down, though none of them noticed.

"Gomen, Sato-keiji!" they said in unison.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"There," Kaito said pointing towards a large amount of shrubbery.

"Dude, seriously? It's all bushes," Hattori grumbled. Kaito chose not to reply. They had been stumbling around with two flashlights for the last half hour or so (the safe house was located a distance away for safety, and Kaito had only accessed it from a nearby dirt path) and both were getting frustrated. Kaito had spotted the cluster of bushes that marked the safe house though, and was now crawling through a well concealed hole.

"Oi! Don't leave me behind!" Hattori scrambled after Kaito.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Irish unlocked the door. He would've been humming, ecstatic about meeting the Boss, but there was something else that he was worried about, and Irish was in no mood to start humming.

Irish gave the door a firm push and the door opened quietly. Irish stepped inside, his confident smirk back. He was already at this step, nothing could stop him, right?

And that was when his jaw fell open and he stared at an empty metal bed.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A drop of sweat slid down Conan's cheek as he heard the door open. Against his will, he smiled. There was always that chance that Irish might find out where he was, but Conan had plenty of confidence in his plan.

Irish was apparently rather angry, and he had sufficient reason to be so. Conan heard clanking and stomping, along with strings of curse words (many that amused Conan).

"The damn boy!" Irish roared, and there was a clang of metal. "He escaped through the heating vent!"

After a few minutes of yelling and shouting, Irish seemed to have calmed down. "I know where the boy is now," Irish said to himself. "Somehow, he must've had a lock pick on him, yes, the chains would be just long enough for him to reach it. He unscrewed the screws for the heating vent with this screwdriver I mistakenly left on the table and climbed into it. But the problem's easily solved. Yes, I'll just have somebody be waiting at all exits for the heating vent. He left the screwdriver here, which means he wouldn't be able to open the vents in the building, only the ones outside of them don't need screwdrivers to open...ok, I know where he is." There was a small "ssss" sound, as if something was twisting, and then something else dropped to the ground.

Conan heard Irish stomp out and took a shaky breath, feeling like laughing. It'd worked. Considering that Irish would be angry and shocked at the fact that he had escaped, the man would most likely take the most obvious route, which was that he, Conan, had escaped from the heating vent, which Conan had conveniently left open. Of course, Conan might've stayed in the heating vent and gotten out after Irish left from the original entrance, but if Irish had been considerate enough to screw the screws back on (which he had), then Conan would've been left with nowhere to go.

Slowly, Conan came out, a grin on his face.

He came out of the wall.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

It had been simple. The metal bed itself, when Conan had entered it, had looked quite new, compared to the desk and other furniture, which had a used feeling to it. Also, the chair had been too high for Irish, meaning he had to bend over if he wanted to use the computer, also symbolizing that somebody shorter had used it. The knobs of the drawers were slightly rusted, but appeared to have been cleaned. Then there was the wall. Originally, Conan had meant to escape from the heating vent, which he had been able to see quite clearly from the metal table. It's location was also advantageous, since it was right above a large metal bookshelf (which Conan had not noticed until after he was strapped to the metal table, since it had been in the far right corner, whilst most of the furniture was on the left), which meant that it would be easy to climb up to.

The bookshelf itself was quite new, not rusted in any place, which was unusual for a metal bookshelf, since most people rarely cleaned underneath the corners. Thus, Conan predicted that judging from the circumstances of the furniture, Irish had just recently moved into this room, and this room had been occupied by another. The other person had been of average height (compared to Irish's towering figure), about ten centimeters* shorter, give or take. There was also something that Conan had found in Irish's desk (he had also picked the lock of it in hopes to find APTX4869, unfortunately Irish didn't appear to have those), a 100 yen bill, or rather, one that was printed illegally.

All this pointed to a person of average height, was concerned with the Organization's financial matters, and probably a careful and cautious person. Conan suspected that the person might've been Ito Daichi, a middle-aged man who had died a week and a half ago of a heart attack. Ito had been a banker, and the Organization probably enlisted him to help with their finances.

Putting logic with logic, Conan had suspected that there would be a safe in which the banker had stored his money. Conan had been searching for it for a brief period of time, thinking that Irish might've had valuable information hidden there, but had come up with nothing...until he glanced up at the bookshelf. In truth, the safe had been hidden almost completely behind the bookshelf, leaving about an inch of it exposed. The safe itself had been made of metal (Conan was starting to think that all people who resided in this room had an obsession with the material) and one could only see the difference between the silvery gray of the metal and the duller gray of the concrete wall if you stood close. The bookshelf had probably also been put there by the banker so that intruders would be unlikely to find the safe.

Conan had moved the staircase slightly by using his suspenders. It had made a ruckus, and had it not been the dead of the night, Conan wouldn't have dared to try it. Even so, Conan was afraid that the Organization had posted a reliable sentry to walk around, making sure that everything was okay. Once again, though, luck was on Conan's side. Conan grimaced somewhat at the fact, nobody can live on luck alone, and soon it would run out.

With a bit of effort, Conan managed to pry open the safe. There was no lock on it, presumably the owner thought that getting a metal staircase out of the way was difficult enough. In fact, Conan thought that Ito Daichi had been murdered (perhaps by APTX4869), probably because he had made some sort of mistake. Conan doubted he would ever find out, but he would try all that he could to do so.

Now, with Irish out of the room, Conan jumped quietly out of the safe. He had checked the entire room, and finding nothing of interest (the computers had not contained any information on the Organization nor had the drawers held APTX4869), there was no reason to stay longer. Most of the Organization members (which he judged by the amount of noise) usually either got up extremely early in the morning or rather late which were two good strategies to not get noticed, since one could avoid others if they got up early and mix into the crowd if late.

Right now was precisely the time between early and late, a time when most members didn't exit, which was perfect for Conan. Quietly, he went down the corridor. Conan had memorized the way when he came in, knowing that he would need it to escape. Conan deduced that the entrance, while difficult to break into, would probably require no password (or a minimal one) so that members could easily escape. Conan reached for the doorknob...when it swung open of its own accord.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Bourbon had the information.

He smiled as he clicked through the report from the Organization, which was in code, of course. However, Bourbon had memorized a long list of possible codes that the Organization used, and using that information he was able to decode the message rather quickly.

The report went somewhat like this after Bourbon had decoded it:

_Report XXXXXX. Filed for Operative XXXXX_

_Operation XXXXXXX_

_We have received your request for the results of the experiment. Out of the 5987 (including SXXXXY's trials) times we have experimented this, including the adjustment of several important elements, we have found a .000001 chance of surviving. Survivors will shrink._

_Agent XXX_

_Κάψτε επιστολή όταν τελειώσετε._

_Report XXXXXX fin._

Bourbon smiled as he read the Greek letters at the bottom of the message. Every single message was ended in a similar way, with the words "Burn letter when finished" written in Greek as a precaution. Of course, the method would be instantly discovered if a Greek came along to decipher it, but nothing in the letter hinted at the possibility of a spy or illegal organization.

Bourbon clicked on a file that was located on the desktop. A message popped up, telling him to enter the password for the file in order to access it. Usually, Bourbon would feel slightly annoyed at the fact that he had to enter a password, but today he was too happy at having his suspicions confirmed that he didn't even hesitate. His fingers flew over the keyboard with astonishing speed, entering the letters that were so very familiar to him.

Two photos appeared, side by side. One was of a 18 year old Miyano Shiho and another of a 7 year old girl with a similar (if not exactly the same) hairstyle. Bourbon smiled and with his mouse, he mimicked drawing a large 'X' over both girls' faces.

Okiya pulled the curtains open and smiled menacingly at the house of Agasa Hakase.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Heiji woke up to the annoying sound of his companion, or rather, Kaitou Kid, snoring.

The man, had filled him in last night before both collapsed. The conversation went something like this:

"_Here we are," the driver announced, opening a hidden entrance to an underground hose with several rooms._

_Heiji grumbled something about "useless shrubbery" as he picked twigs and leaves out of his hair. "Ok, we're here," Heiji said grumpily. "Now tell me exactly who you are, what you have to do with Kudo, and any information that you may possess."_

_His companion, however, did not oblige, and proceeded to go around the room, checking for bugs. Then he turned back to Heiji with a wide grin on his face. "No hurry, tantei-han, we've got all night. The kidnappers are fond of darkness and have many tasks at hand. For now, we can rest." It was obvious that the driver was in a good mood, probably because they had finally arrived somewhere safe, somewhere that they could rest without fearing for their lives._

_Heiji wasn't satisfied. "Tell me now, Driver-san, or I am not saying a word about anything."_

"_Tsk, tsk," the driver said playfully. "Settle down, tantei-han. Have some food. We can chat over this while we're eating."_

"_Ya think that I'm somebody who can be tempted with food? What are ya gonna do, drug my food or something? I ain't hungry." Heiji lost control of his temper and dropped the polite attitude, replacing it with his normal one._

_To his dismay, his stomach growled. The driver laughed. "I see. Sure. You're not hungry. Help yourself to the bread."_

_Within minutes, Heiji had devoured slice after slice of homemade bread. After a few more minutes of silence, Heiji finally swallowed the last slice (which tasted just as good as the first), Heiji decided to try his luck again._

"_What do you know?" Heiji demanded. "Tell me NOW. No delaying, Kaitou KID."_

_The driver clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "Always jumping to conclusions, aren't we, tantei-han. You won't be able to make it far in your career if that's how you act."_

_Heiji clenched his fist and restrained himself from socking his companion. Nobody, but nobody ever insulted his ability as a detective. This guy was just as bad as that...that Brit._

"_Now, Hattori Heiji, let us proceed. You may ask me any question you'd like, though I may choose not to answer them. I will answer them truthfully and hopefully you will do me the courtesy of that as well."_

_Heiji, who had been looking down at his fist at this time, glanced up in surprise. The driver was sitting calmly, anticipating the first question._

"_Are you Kaitou KID?" Heiji questioned._

_The man chuckled. "Ah, I thought it might be that. However, I will refrain from answering that question for now."_

_Heiji, slightly peeved at the fact that he was allowed to ask questions, but didn't get answers, waited a bit for asking the next. "What's your relationship with Kudo?"_

"_Brothers." Was that a sly smile that Heiji saw on the driver's face? "Brothers, as well as nemeses, I suppose. Kudo Shinichi is my elder brother."_

_Heiji's eyebrow twitched. The man appeared to be talking in code. After all, Kudo couldn't have a brother, right? He had never mentioned having an otouto*, and Heiji was positive that the boy would never hide anything from him._

"_Ok, then what do you know about him?" Heiji pressed on, feeling slightly more hopeful now that his questions were being answered._

"_Oh, did I forget to mention? Once I have answered a question, it is your turn to answer one. So, tantei-han, what happened to Kudo Shinichi?" the driver smirked._

"_Before I answer that question, please give me a name that I can call you. Calling you Driver-san is annoying," Heiji said._

_The man thought for a while. "Kaito." Heiji raised an eyebrow._

"_Ok, Kaito. Kudo's story is not mine to tell, thus I can't give you much information on him," Heiji said firmly. He would never abandon his friend like that._

_Kaito, however, seemed to be expecting that answer. Taking out two photographs from his front pocket which Heiji hadn't noticed before, he asked quietly, "Does this prompt you?"_

_Heiji froze. There was Kudo, Kudo as a 17-year old. Next to it...next to it was Edogawa Conan._

After a while, the two had begun to trust each other, just slightly mind you. Heiji had learned about Kaito's past, and though he didn't agree with the way that the thief carried out revenge for his father, he had to admit that there was sufficient reason. How that fitted in with Kudo and everything, he wasn't sure, but Heiji had plenty of information to go on now.

Sighing, he poked Kaito awake, just as a way-too familiar voice called out.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hakuba called out for that baka-detective and Kaito. He'd managed to get down from the highway, not quite unscathed, but overall he was alive. Hakuba didn't know where in the world to head towards, which presented a rather difficult problem. There had been a few footprints at the base of a tree, but they had led to stiffer ground, where they had vanished. Hakuba had also found the remains of a fire, which had probably been made by the two as they stopped to take a break from trudging through the woods. Judging by the crushed leaves, Hakuba had deduced their approximate direction, and was now calling out for them.

Hakuba passed a bit of shrubbery and stopped, somewhat surprised. There were no more crumpled leaves here, indeed, there wasn't much of anything besides the trees and that clump of bushes. Suddenly, there was a rustling behind him and Hakuba turned to see who it was. Before he could though, the cold muzzle of a gun was pointed at his head.

"Turn around slowly," a voice commanded. Hakuba was slightly startled, it was neither the Osakan accent of the detective, nor was it Kaito's cheery way of speaking. The voice was cautious, as well as slightly threatening. Hakuba raised up his hands and turned around.

Kaitou Kid, dressed completely in white as usual, complete with the top hat and monocle, was staring at him seriously while pointing a card gun at his head. Hakuba saw his stiff shoulders relax somewhat, though he still kept the gun pointed at him.

"Who are you?" Kid said calmly, as if he had never seen Hakuba before.

"Hakuba Saguru, 180 cm tall, weighs 65 kg, born August 29th under the Virgo zodiac, blood type A," Hakuba recited from memory. "Detective who's nemesis is Kaitou KID, owner of a pocket watch that only loses 0.001 seconds a year. Classmate of Kuroba Kaito, Nakamori Aoko, and Koizumi Akako. Fan of Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective ever. Believes that Kaito Kuroba, you, are Kaitou Kid."

"Those are all facts," Kid said, a tint of malice in his voice. "Facts that could be searched up at any time by any one for any reason. Tell me something that only Hakuba would know."

"I…" Suddenly, Hakuba felt almost dumb. Kaito was right, all of those were facts. He needed to tell "Kid" something that only Hakuba would know, something about himself or his classmates that only he would know. But...but what?

"You dropped me a note in my locker excusing you from school due to a magic convention?" Hakuba tried weakly.

Kid still glared down at him harshly. "Not good enough. Anybody who saw you may have also seen the note."

Hakuba looked around desperately for inspiration. Trees, trees, leaves, branches, pine trees, pine cones…

Kid's glare intensified and Hakuba had no doubt that in a very short period of time, he would be knocked out (probably by sleeping gas) and tied up.

"Pine cones!" Hakuba shouted. "Pine cones! Once, you somehow unlocked the lock to my locker and read my journal which I had brought to school for some reason and you read a certain entry about pine cones! I was in a pine forest when I was younger, and I really wanted a pine cone. When one fell onto the floor near my feet I thought it was a gift from heaven...until they started falling everywhere. I yelled and screamed like a girl and ended up swearing I would never touch a pine cone again. It turned out that my brother and his friend had climbed up the tree and threw pine cones down."

Hakuba was out of breath by the time he finished his story, not to mention pink with embarrassment. However, Hakuba saw Kid relax slightly, almost as if he felt that the story was enough confirmation, and Hakuba allowed himself some time to breathe.

To Hakuba's surprise, though, Kid didn't put away the gun, he didn't even lower it. Before he had time to ponder exactly what this meant, there was a tiny prick at the back of his neck and Hakuba slumped to the floor, unconscious.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Irish hadn't found the boy yet.

That was bad news. Horrible news, in fact. Irish had stationed someone to guard every single entrance that the heating vents might lead to, only telling the sentries that they were to look for a young child. It had been half day with no success and Irish knew that his hope was dwindling out.

He had a meeting, one that Irish dared not delay. If he delayed, he might as well declare a death sentence upon himself. It wasn't the meeting with the Boss, it was somebody else.

Irish gritted his teeth. The message had called for him to refrain from bringing anybody else along with him, so the boy being missing wouldn't be a big problem...but he couldn't face the Boss without the boy as evidence.

Irish glanced at the time. There was no time to waste. He'd have to leave the boy alone...for now.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gin waited patiently.

His black Porsche had been parked in a secure location that Gin had scouted out an hour ago. Now he smoked a cigarette, one hand in his pocket, waiting for Irish to come.

Gin snorted at the thought that patience was a virtue. Gin had patience, plenty of patience in fact, to wait for something to happen, whether it be a murder or delivering a bottle of wine. Right now, though, his patience was wearing thin.

A innocent-looking gray car pulled up and a tall man stepped out.

"Irish."

"Gin."

Irish came forwards slowly. Gin immediately took everything into account. Irish didn't have any pockets, so he couldn't have hidden a pistol there. There were no bulges near his pants, so he hadn't put it there either. There was a calm expression on his face, but his eyes revealed that he was highly upset by something.

"What is it that you would like to talk to me about?" His tone confirmed Gin's suspicions, Irish was indeed upset by something, and likely worried about it as well.

"What you did."

"What are you talking about, Gin? There is nothing that I have done that was worth criticizing." Gin had to admit, Irish did have a rather innocent look plastered on his face, but it was nothing more than an act.

"The boy. The kidnapping. The police have heard all about it. You can hide a murder, to some extent, but you can't disguise a kidnapping, especially a last minute one like that. You've made a fatal mistake, Irish," Gin explained calmly, knowing that Irish had nowhere to run.

"I'm sorry, but we must have misunderstood something," Irish said irritably, though he glanced at his car as if hoping to escape. "Perhaps we will talk at a later date?"

"No. You made a mistake exactly like the one that a few others have done." Gin vaguely remembered that Irish was mad at him for something, perhaps because he had murdered someone, but he no longer remembered that person's name

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the alley and Irish fell to the ground, dead to the world. Literally.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

An Organization member came through the door, cursing slightly about stupid codes and passwords. The member turned and disappeared down the hallway.

A hand reached out and grabbed the door before it closed again. Conan's relieved expression appeared from behind the doorway.

_Half an Hour Later…_

It had taken him some time, but Conan was finally out and fresh air had never seemed so good to him. The building had been somewhat of a maze, probably also as a safety precaution. He stood next to an abandoned factory of some sort that was surrounded on two sides by woods. There was a small path, just big enough for a car to pass through (Gin didn't seem like the type who would park his car at the side of the forest). Gin didn't seem to be around since the Porsche was gone. Conan allowed himself to relax slightly. Gin not being around was probably the best news he had heard so far; even if the man didn't know Conan's true identity he would still be suspicious to find out that Conan wasn't with Irish.

Conan was in somewhat of a desperate situation right now. He was stuck in the middle of the woods with no means of communication, no gadgets, and no way to get back. Conan was well aware that if he stayed there too long, Irish or some other Organization would come along, and the chances of him being killed were highly probable.

Conan decided to follow the path. Hopefully it would lead out of the woods.

But would that be the right choice? Suppose Irish came back. He'd still know Conan's identity, and he wouldn't hesitate to threaten Ran or anybody else close to him so that Conan would return. How about Haibara? If Irish found out that Conan had returned to the Detective Agency (and that was a fact rather hard to hide), he might even discover Haibara's identity. Haibara would be absolutely terrified and the Organization wouldn't hesitate to eliminate her.

Conan grabbed his hair in frustration. The only way he would be able to do something was by escaping, the sooner the better. Finally, he decided there was no choice; he had to do something.

Conan hesitantly started on the pathway through the woods.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Haibara Ai glanced at the three pistols that were on her desk.

They were backup, of course, since it never hurt to be overly cautious. Taking two of them, she checked to make sure that they had bullets and held one in her hand while putting one in her pocket.

Picking up a tiny pill, Haibara examined it carefully. Her research was over. Over, finally over. With a satisfied smile, she glanced at all her notes on creating an antidote for the APTX4869. She planned to destroy all of it and hoped that Kudo would have the sense to destroy the poison itself. Haibara never wanted to hear the words Apoptoxin again. It had ruined her life, along with Kudo's and many others. She felt light-hearted, free, almost as if she could take off and fly.

It was almost sunset now, almost time for action. Hakase was acting as backup, though Haibara hadn't told him exactly what he was acting as backup for. She took the final gun, one last look at her research, and headed upstairs.

Hakase was idly glancing at the TV screen. He didn't appear to be paying attention, and when she came in, Hakase looked at her almost fearfully. "You're going to do it, aren't you?" Hakase whispered. "You're going to confront Okiya, Okiya Subaru. The man who you think is a member of the Organization, Bourbon."

Wordlessly, Haibara handed him the third gun. It felt heavy in Hakase's hands, almost screaming of the pain that it would cause if it was used in the right way.

"Ai-kun, don't," Hakase's words were pleading now. "Okiya is a good man, he wouldn't, he _couldn't_ be Bourbon. He…"

"Shut up!" Haibara snapped for the first time at Hakase. "You sound just like Kudo-kun, exactly like Kudo-kun! Do you know what I felt that first day that I saw Okiya? Fear! The same aura that was emitted by the Organization members!"

"But Ai-kun, you felt the same for Akai. He…"

"Okiya could not be Akai," Haibara said harshly, walking away from Hakase. "Even if Akai was alive, Okiya could not be Akai."

Haibara didn't give an explanation. Instead, she walked outside and slammed the door shut.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The girl had come out, a serious look on her face. Her gaze shifted and fell upon his, her eyes narrowing icily, as if she expected him to be looking yet hated him for it. His lips curled into a smile and he stepped gallantly out of the house, ready to welcome his visitor. The girl held a handgun in her left hand.

"Hello, Haibara-san!" Okiya said cheerfully.

"What is it, Bourbon," the girl spat back.

Okiya clucked his tongue and brought a midnight black pistol from behind his back, only to find that the girl had one pointed at him as well. "Little girls shouldn't be using such dangerous weapons," he said playfully.

"You're one to say," Haibara hissed.

Okiya smiled. "You couldn't fire the bullet even if your life depended on it, _Sherry_." The girl didn't reply, but her grip on the gun tightened. "Now how about you hand yourself over quietly and we can come discuss this in," Okiya waved his hand, "Kudo Shinichi's house?"

"I'd prefer not," Haibara said frostily. She cocked her gun and the noise seemed to echo around the street.

"Now dearie, do refrain from making me harm you," Okiya said, grinning menacingly. He aimed for the hand with the gun and squeezed the trigger.

Haibara's pistol went flying.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Meanwhile, a black Porsche drove down a narrow road, leaving an old warehouse flickering with flames.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Okiya Subaru clutched his left arm in pain and felt like screaming due to the burning sensation in his right leg. "Y...you…"

"Good night."

Okiya Subaru blacked out, his mind racing through the events of the past few minutes.

_The girl winced slightly as the gun spun out of her hand and Okiya's face lit up with an almost maniacal smile at her well-concealed pain. "Surrender, Sherry, before I need to put a bullet through your brain," he grinned, tilting his head to the side. "But before I send you to the other side, would you bother telling me about where Akai is? Surely he has not died."_

_The girl's reaction was an utter surprise. She laughed and Okiya blinked. "Even now, you think about Akai-san. Your hatred is beyond words, Bourbon-san. Unfortunately, I only have one answer for you."_

_There was a slight commotion behind Okiya and he glanced out of the corners of his eyes, wondering what the noise was. That was when something bright green hit him on the right arm, something acidic that burned into his arm so much that Okiya tasted blood as he bit down on his tongue. The pistol clattered to the ground and Okiya glanced up to see the girl smirking at a distance._

"_Always carry an extra gun," she whispered. "Organization member rule #24. Never allow a commotion to distract you from your target unless it is directly related to it, Organization member rule #172. You, apparently seem to have forgot both." With her gun, she aimed it for his leg._

_Okiya, however, dodged the acidic spray and Sherry looked at him disdainfully. He picked up his pistol. "Challenging a member higher and more skilled in combat is a fatal decision. Organization member rule #329." With that, Okiya sped towards her._

_The girl moved with astonishing agility that should've been impossible for a young girl to have. Due to her small size, Okiya was in a crouching position for most of the time, meaning that he used much more energy than Sherry, who had currently had the advantage. Before he knew what was happening, the girl had ducked behind him and shot him in the leg._

_Okiya grimaced as the acid burned through his leg, almost as if eating away at the flesh. "It doesn't make a difference, Sherry," Okiya said through gritted teeth. "I have always been capable and will always be capable of taking you down, whether you pour acid on me or not." Okiya's grimace turned into a grin, the girl couldn't beat him. All he had to do was..._

"_Unfortunately, Bourbon-san, I still have saved something for the last." For the first time, Okiya noticed the watch on her wrist. A watch that looked exactly like the boy's watch._

_Eyes opening with realization, Okiya sputtered, "Y...you…"_

"_Good night."_

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan was sweating and the day was ending fast by the time he reached the edge of the woods. To his disappointment, the woods were apparently located in a remote location and the chances of somebody passing by were little to none. It was likely that there were several other entrances into the underground HQ so that there wouldn't be too much suspicion regarding a black Porsche that appeared in the countryside for nor reason.

Conan reached into his pockets, despairing slightly at the fact that he had nothing. Conan pushed his hand into the back pocket, holding on to his last thread of hope. There was something hard in there and Conan took it out slowly, not daring to get his hopes up.

It was a coin. A coin that was just enough for one phone call. One phone call to Hakase, that was all it would take…

There was an emergency telephone booth farther away, most likely there so that the Organization members would be able to call if they had lost their phones or if something had happened to the HQ and they needed to contact the Boss. Using the last bit of his energy, Conan sprinted (or at the very least, walked as quickly as he could) to the phone. He dialed in the numbers for Hakase, hopefully they could pick him up, maybe Haibara even...no, he couldn't get his hopes up.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Hakase!" Conan had never felt more relieved to hear Hakase's voice. "Where's Haibara?"

"Sh...Shinichi!" Hakase exclaimed. "Where are you?"

"It doesn't matter, I need to speak with Haibara," Conan said urgently, holding onto the phone as if it were his lifeline, which it might've been.

"Ai-kun?" Conan thought he heard a hint of wariness as Hakase said Haibara's name. "She just went outside, handed me a gun and told me to take care of myself."

Conan nearly let go of the phone. "A gun?" he yelped. "What is she thinking?"

"Okiya-san. She's always suspected him to be Bourbon, you know…"

Conan slapped his hand to his forehead. How could he have forgotten? Bourbon...Sherry...Okiya...Haibara...he had been so stupid to neglect that.

"Look, Hakase, do NOT move out of the–"

There was a knock from the other end. "Ai-kun?" Hakase's surprised voice said.

"Hakase, who are you phoning?" Haibara asked, her voice tinted with suspicion. "If they don't know about it, hang up immediately."

"Ai-kun, it's Shinichi."

There was a clatter and Conan clenched the emergency phone tightly, wanting desperately to know what was going on. There seemed to be a bit of static or something like that on the other end and then…

"Kudo-kun."

Conan had never heard that voice before. It was a whisper, mixed with hope and despair, if that was possible. It was tinted with sadness and fear, as if Haibara was afraid that he would suddenly change into some Organization member.

"Haibara, what happened?" Conan asked, breaking the temporary silence.

"Okiya-san has been apprehended."

There was more silence. Conan felt like laughing with relief. "H...how, Haibara?"

"Acidic Gun. Invention 6792…" Haibara ranted off a whole line of details regarding her "acidic gun".

"Okay. That's great. I'm in some rural place right now that's next to a forest of some sort. Do you know where that might be?" Conan asked quickly.

Haibara was silent for a moment. "I might." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'll come get you, okay? Don't get Hakase involved. He doesn't need to go any further into the Organization to get himself killed."

Conan gave a hollow laugh. "Do you really think I'm that much in denial? Ok, come by yourself. I'll start walking up the road, there's only one direction it goes in. See you?"

"See you."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kudo Yusaku was positive that he had some of the worst luck in the world.

Okay, rephrase that. He was positive that he had the son who had the worst luck in the world. That also meant that he had pretty bad luck.

Not really a comforting thought.

Unfortunately, a unforeseen hurricane had come. It wasn't an extremely strong one, in fact, it was more of a nuisance than anything, but the airport had decided not to allow any flights to leave. It was kind of like those hurricanes that are really strong rains, not something that you'd acknowledge as dangerous, but just enough to have all flights cancelled. Unable to stay still, the writer paced around (in a private room in the airport hotel*). The only thing that could be worse was if his editors and fans came barging in (he had given them the slip). Wait, he couldn't think about that, or else he might jinx it.

Yusaku banged his head on the wall in frustration.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The FBI had to make a stop in Hawaii to refuel before they arrived in Japan. Unable to sleep, Jodie was watching the process through narrowed eyes. It had been 5 hours since they left San Francisco and Jodie was already impatient. Cool Kid might have already been murdered by the time they arrived. Speaking of which, who had kidnapped him? The thought had nagged at her ever since she climbed onto the aircraft and had even been in a brief dream she had.

Jodie bit her lip. Was it possible–no, surely not. It was true that Cool Kid had foiled Vermouth's plan (to some extent) and had probably also been concerned with the Organization in some way. Cool Kid was just so confusing. Jodie preferred facts and there didn't seem to be many regarding Cool Kid.

"Clearance for flight!" an airport officer called out.

"Jodie!" James had come along too. "Hurry up!"

"Yes, Boss!"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A man with a cap walked through the streets. Most avoided his icy gaze, not helped by the large burn scar on his right cheek. A slight grin played on his lips as he scanned a message from Gin, recalling a memory at the same time.

Scar Akai walked until he came upon an innocent-looking black truck. Grinning, he got in. Gin had just messaged him about an update on the...mission.

The black truck roared to life and Scar Akai drove off.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Haibara paid the taxi driver extra. She also told him that he should wait around a distant bend, if she didn't come in 15 minutes, he should leave as fast as possible. The puzzled driver did so and drove off. Haibara clutched a tiny pill in her hand.

_This has to work._

Haibara spotted Kudo waving at her from a distance. He looked much worse for wear than the last time she saw him and her heart thudded with joy. He was alive, beaten up and bruised, not to mention somewhat bloodied, but still alive.

Haibara was almost there and her face broke into a smile against her own will. She raised her left hand (the other held the pill), her eyes shining like never before, running with all her might towards Kudo. They were only 10 meters apart now.

She opened her mouth in greeting, but it came out as a scream.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Conan had never heard Haibara scream like that before.

The normally calm girl was originally running towards him, her eyes laughing with joy, or perhaps hysteria. Suddenly, there was a look of shock in her eyes.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Conan's eyes saw a bullet streak towards Haibara, he wanted to yell out, to tell her to dodge it, but his voice was frozen in his throat.

Blood poured from Haibara's chest as she thudded to the ground. "Haibara!" Conan yelled, rushing to the girl as she lay there, barely conscious.

"K...Kudo…" Haibara whispered.

"Shh, don't speak," Conan said urgently, anxiety tinging his tone despite his efforts to keep Haibara calm. "You're still breathing, still alive."

"I'm g...gonna die, aren't I?" Haibara said between ragged breaths. "Just like...just like my sister…"

"Don't say that," Conan said through gritted teeth. "C'mon, I'll just…"

"You'll do nothing."

Conan spun around in the direction of the voice. A man smirked back at him

It was Akai.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Footnotes:

centimeters (cm) - Japanese people would most likely use centimeters instead of inches. 10 cm is a bit more than 3.9 inches, about a fourth of a yard and a tenth of a meter.

otouto - younger brother

airport hotel - Yes, there are airport hotels, specifically for people who's flights have been delayed.

Author's Note: Yay! I've found a beta reader! Thanks, aquagirl520, for looking through my story (and this chapter) and giving some pointers. You're a great beta reader, so thank you!

I'm deciding the fate of Vermouth, so I have a couple of options for you:

Vermouth gets caught and sent to jail. She stays there for the rest of her life.*

Vermouth gets caught and sent to jail. She escapes.

Vermouth gets caught, but before she is sent to jail, there is a minor twist in the plot. Vermouth ends up dying.**

Vermouth dies during the battle while attempting to escape.

Vermouth dies during the battle while attempting to save Conan/Ran/somebody.

Vermouth escapes detection and lives a legal life (under a different name).

*Note: If you choose this option, there will be a bit of conversation between Vermouth and Conan (and possibly Yukiko) before she's sent to jail.

**Note: I've already decided that if this was to happen, I'd have Vermouth die in the end.

I've also decided that I will now publish all chapters on Sundays. There's no particular reason, besides the fact that I'd like a set date for publishing so that I can keep myself on a strict schedule.


	11. Missing in the Action

Author's Note: Hi. *dodges tomatoes* I'm back. *dodges TV* Sorry for the delay. *dodges table* I was busy and got sidetracked. *dodges Kittychan_H's very-scary spork* Yes, I will be getting back on track soon, so you can count on another chapter within this week. Plus, break is almost here, so maybe you can count on two...actually don't count on it, just hope. *restrains reader from throwing laptop which would result in them being unable to read chapter*

Okay, I was almost finished with this chapter a while ago, but then Pages decided to quit on me, and since I was dumb and forgot to save, well, I had to rewrite everything. This is either better, worse, or almost the same as the original version.

There's another thing that distracted me. Here's the link (without spaces):

http: / / www. detectiveconanworld .com/forum /

A lot of people who read/write Detective Conan go on it, including xXLeration, Aeyra, Chelseaj500, amongst many others.

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan. I am too angry to make the disclaimer funnier.

* * *

Before Conan could react, a dart appeared on his shoulder. Akai stepped confidently towards him, the smirk on his face widening. A chilling wave swept over Conan and he attempted to pluck the dart out of his shoulder. But there was something wrong, something very very wrong. The numbness...the coldness...he couldn't move.

"Paralysis dart," Akai said calmly. "Should work for about 20 minutes." His right cheek was burned, but it was the maniacal look in his eyes were what struck Conan. Conan felt his stomach drop; this was NOT good.

He stepped over Haibara's still body and picked Conan up. The boy sagged limply over his shoulder, apparently his body was still flexible, Conan just couldn't move it. He stared at Haibara's body, surrounded by a pool of dark red blood.

He was taken to a familiar looking black car and seated on the backseat. Akai cuffed his hands behind his back with metal handcuffs, then his feet. His mouth was sealed with duct tape, his eyes blindfolded, and for good measure, Akai tied a rope around his arms. Under normal circumstances, Conan would've attempted to escape or resist, but seeing as he was paralyzed, there wasn't really much he could do.

Satisfied, Akai tossed Conan in some sort of container. After a bit of jolting around, Conan came to a stop in a corner of it. He heard the deep rumbling of the engine starting, and Akai began to drive.

There was a ring of a phone. To Conan's disappointment, it was not to the song was not Nanatsu no Ko, as it would be easy to find, but was the simple beeping of an alarm clock. Akai murmured a few words into the phone, but the only one that Conan could hear was "Irish".

It had been about 20 minutes (Conan wasn't sure as he couldn't see anything, much less the time) and Conan, against his will, was dozing off. Nothing had happened, besides a few more phone calls in and out. The paralysis dart was beginning to wear off and Conan could move a bit now, but dared not to, lest Akai come back with more.

Conan sighed and waited for what was to come.

* * *

Hakuba woke up.

There was somebody leaning over him, somebody who looked _very _familiar. Someone he was almost relieved to see.

Not.

Hakuba sat up abruptly, almost knocking Kaito, who was looking at him, over. "WHAT THE H***?" Hakuba shouted at the magician. "WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU KNOCK ME OUT WITH A PARALYSIS DART, YOU B******!" He grabbed Kaito's collar, fully intending to knock the thief out with one punch.

There was a poof of pink smoke and Kuroba Kaito, dressed like Kaitou KID, appeared several meters away, dusting himself off. Hakuba's fury rose, but he sank down on the bed behind him instead of letting his anger take over him.

In the corner, there was the sound of somebody snoring. Hakuba glanced over and saw a SAX cap pulled over dark hair with a well-tanned face. Hattori Heiji. Hakuba tried not to punch him...man, he needed to control his anger.

Kuroba poked Hattori. "Oi, wake up, tantei-han, we need to get moving now that tantei-san is awake. We've wasted enough time. It's getting dark."

Hattori shook himself awake. "Oh, Kuroba," Hattori said, looking at the thief clad in white. Hakuba's mouth dropped open. That b****** magician revealed his identity to the hotheaded detective without revealing it to _him_? Now this was getting on his nerves.

Hattori glanced over at Hakuba. "Oh. Hakuba-_san_," Hattori grunted, his eyes narrowing.

"Hattori-san," Hakuba said stiffly. Addressing the detective with the honorific "-san" sounded a bit odd, but Hakuba wasn't about to replace it with "-kun" anytime soon.

"We need to get going," Hattori said, standing up. "Are you coming, Hakuba-san?"

Hakuba blinked. "Whoa, whoa," Hakuba said. "Aren't you guys going to explain, or attempt to explain, everything to me? I am not getting head-over-heels in a business that I know nothing about."

Kuroba glanced at him. "Hakuba, by meeting us here, you have already gotten head-over-heels. There's no turning back. We'll explain on the car...but you both need disguises."

There was a poof and both guys were showered in pink smoke...with golden confetti. "There," Kuroba smirked. "Much better."

Hattori's cap had been replaced with a pure white one. His skin color had softened somewhat to a lighter color, his clothes changed to a sporting t-shirt with a jacket and a pair of jeans. The detective looked odd, but was rather difficult to recognize.

Then there was Hakuba himself. Kuroba tossed him a mirror. "What do you think?" he grinned.

Hakuba's blond hair had been dyed brown, his Sherlock Holmes outfit replaced by a simple t-shirt and jeans. There was also a light blue jacket. Personally, Hakuba thought he looked despicable (who wore jeans and a t-shirt when they were on a case?), but he had to admit, the disguise was pretty good.

"How about you?" Hattori inquired, pointing at Kuroba. "You would stand out in a crowd wearing that Kaitou KID outfit."

With a snap of his fingers, Kuroba Kaito appeared again. "Satisfied?"

"Yes."

Keys appeared in Kuroba's hand. "Hurry up, Hakuba. There's no use in dawdling. We have a little detective to save."

* * *

Snake lounged on a chair, glaring at the newer Organization members who were serving him. Most trembled under his gaze and retreated into the shadows as soon as possible.

"Well, _Gin_," Snake snarled. A member had been delivering a bottle of gin when he accidentally spilled it on Snake, and Snake seemed to take it as an insult. "Why in the world do I have to cooperate with your branch of insolent, despicable, and useless members?"

Gin's eyes narrowed. "Well, _Snake_," Gin said through gritted teeth, "I'd rather not work with your incompetent members either. Unfortunately, Anokata himself has asked that we work together due to a certain group of people who we are working against."

"Yes, yes, now would you provide me the names of the people so that I may eliminate them?" Snake asked in a slightly bored voice. "Or does Anokata not trust you enough to tell you who they are?"

Snake immediately knew he had struck a nerve. Gin's fist tightened slightly before loosening again.

"In fact, I do know one of the members of the group. Not in detail or anything, but I'm sure the name will interest you. The man's name, or rather the name his goes by, is Kaitou KID."

Snake's reaction was absolutely predictable. He stood up, fury in his eyes. "That b****** magic thief!" he roared. "He's outwitted my men, he's outwitted me, dancing around by the tips of his toes, taunting us insolently..." Outraged, Snake picked up his pistol and aimed it at an unsuspecting Organization member. There was _bang_ and the man yelped, a bullet just several inches away from his head.

"Still as good with a pistol as ever, Snake, yet your techniques with a rifle could be brushed up with," Gin said lightly, smirking.

Snake spun around and faced the silver-haired man, anger burning in his eyes. Gin also stood up, glaring back. After a minute or two, both men sat down, knowing that continuing this debate would get them nowhere.

"So, KID is involved, is he?" Snake hissed. "How about the others?"

"They are being researched and tracked down by our best trackers," Gin said calmly. "Now, here's the plan..."

* * *

Anokata was happy.

Very very happy.

He smirked slightly as he thought of the boy. So cunning...but not quite enough.

His plan, the plan he had been slaving at for years and years, was almost complete. Only the final steps were left, and this boy was a key part of it.

Soon, the time would come.

* * *

_Pain. Burning. It feels like I'm dying. Where am I? What happened?_

Slowly, she opened her eyes. There was something wet around her––blood. There was no doubt about it.

Three dark silhouettes walked towards her as her vision blurred slightly. _Not now_, she begged pleadingly, closing her eyes and opening them again. _They've come. They're here to clean up the mess, to clean up the mess of the traitor. Oh God, please. If there's a God, just, please save me now...I know I haven't deserved it, but oh God, please..._

The figures were moving faster now, breaking into a run. Why were they running? There was no reason to run. None at all.

For a moment, she thought the people looked familiar. That feeling, the I'm-about-to-die-get-me-out-of-here feeling that she got when They were around wasn't there. Perhaps, was it too much to hope?

And then, into her eyesight came the somewhat-familiar faces of Hattori Heiji, Kuroba Kaito, and Hakuba Saguru.

That's when she fainted.

* * *

The girl looked dead. Or at least, that was Hakuba's first impression.

His first glimpse of her was as they rounded the corner. There was a very faint light and the pool of blood that lied beneath her was undeniably pronounced. Hattori and Kuroba started running, and Hakuba's detective instinct compelled him to as well.

"Oi! Haibara-san!" Hattori called as he raced towards the blond haired girl. "What the h*** happened here?"

"She can't talk, baka. She's unconscious!" Kuroba shushed the hotheaded detective.

Hakuba froze slightly. Haibara...wasn't that the name of the girl who had gotten shrunk? He was still having difficulty processing exactly what had happened, between Kuroba finally admitting he was KID and Hattori explaining something about a poison that shrunk Kudo Shinichi and this girl called Miyano Shiho, his brain was a bit overloaded. Hakuba shook his head, this was no time to think. He must go by his instincts.

He flipped open his phone, preparing to call the police, when Kuroba slammed it shut. Hakuba winced, then glared at the magician. "What are you doing?" he asked through narrow eyes. "This girl is dying. We need the police and the ambulance here _now_, or she'll be dead before this hour is over."

"Hakuba, look at me." Kuroba's voice was deadly serious. "Why are you still acting like we're playing some sort of dumb game? This is dangerous. This Organization would kill all of us if they knew we were here, and they wouldn't hesitate to kill every single police member you bring here either. This is _real life_, Hakuba. There's no safe zone, not for me, and not for you. Remember what I told you earlier? You are already head-over-heels now. When you decided to come find me, you already signed a contract for your future, for whether you live or die, for whatever comes next. Now you're in and there's no backing out. If I could..." at this, Kuroba's face looked pained. "If I could, I'd send you back right now. I'd give you a magic potion that would wipe away all of your memories of this, that would leave you unblemished. But I can't, Hakuba, I can't. Believe me, if I could..."

"Okay, no time for chitchat," Hattori interrupted Kuroba. "Hurry up, we're taking this girl to Agasa Hakase's house. That's our best plan." He looked at Kuroba. "I'm afraid we're gonna have to delay our search for Kudo, we can't leave her here to die."

Kuroba nodded. Hakuba felt pained. He had signed a contract when he started searching for Kuroba, signed a contract that said he would give his life for justice. Was this Organization they spoke about truly that frightening that these people had decided that they would bring it down, no matter what the costs, even if it cost them their lives? And Kudo-kun, Hakuba vaguely remembered the name, what had he done that had gotten him landed in this spot? Hattori hadn't been specific enough...

"Stop standing there and get me a stretcher of some sort!" Kuroba snapped. He had already gotten bandages from who-knows-where and was treating the girl. "Hattori's looking for anybody who might be here, now go make yourself useful!"

"But, the girl..."

"I've treated bullet wounds before," Kuroba looked slightly pained. "None as bad as this, the bulletproof vest she wore didn't help much, but I've treated them before. Now hurry up and get me something I can put her on so we can carry her to the car!"

_Kuroba had treated bullet wounds before... _Oh God, what had he gotten himself into? Kuroba mentioned his father and something about this man named Snake, but he'd never mentioned that he had gotten shot at by numerous people.

Hakuba shook his head. Now was not the time to think about this. There was a girl's life at stake, and he had to hurry to make sure it lasted.

* * *

Jodie tapped her foot impatiently. It had been too long, simply too long for her taste. Of course, the man at the customs counter had been slightly suspicious (it wasn't everyday you saw a group of foreigners who spoke perfect Japanese run into the airport), but James had spun a good tale about their Japanese nephew on his deathbed. The man had waved them through sympathetically and they were waiting for a taxi.

Of course, they could've just shown their FBI badges to the man, but that would've resulted in a bombardment of questions and rumors that they didn't want spread. They hadn't technically gotten approval from the Japanese police to be there (they had visas but nobody knew they were operating). That was why they had been forced to make up a story. After all, they were in a rush.

The FBI members had agreed that they would search out any possible information about Edogawa Conan. James Black had suggested a certain Kudo Shinichi's house, he was said to be related to Edogawa Conan and was a superb detective.

Somebody bumped into Jodie, a black-haired man with a pair of glasses. He looked vaguely familiar but Jodie couldn't place where she had seen him. He cut in front of them, much to Jodie's indignation, but before she could yell at him, he was in a taxi and gone.

Jodie sighed and waved down the next taxi.

* * *

Takagi drove the car back in silence. They were first headed to Genta's house (his mother was extremely worried), then Ayumi's (who's mother was worried, but not too badly), and finally Mitsuhiko's (who's parents trusted him enough).

"So, what were you saying about Conan-kun?" Takagi asked lightly.

Ayumi shifted slightly in her seat. "Well, Conan-kun has really awesome gadgets. See, we all have this Detective-Boy badge," she pointed at the bright yellow badge pinned to her chest, "and these awesome flashlight watches. But Conan's gadgets are _really _cool."

"Like what?" Sato asked, a slight smile on her face. Takagi knew what she was thinking, kids were so cute. They'd probably talk about some awesome mini water gun that they used to capture bad guys...

"Well, Conan has this soccer ball belt, which can produce a soccer ball in seconds," Ayumi provided.

_Wait, whoa, what? Soccer ball belt? Now that's cool...but even the police don't have that! What is Hakase making for these kids? _Takagi was stunned.

"Oh, and he's got a tranquilizer function on his watch! He flips open the cover and then this needle comes out! He's used it to make bad guys fall asleep!" Genta added.

_A what? Tranquilizer watch? What? Holy macaroni, why does a 6-year old kid have a spy-like tranquilizer watch?_

"Hakase also provided Conan-kun with a solar-powered skateboard. We've ridden on it a few times," Mitsuhiko said as if this was a daily occurrence.

_Solar powered skateboard? Who makes that kind of thing? And for a 6-year old too!_

"Takagi, pull over," Sato commanded. Takagi obeyed, all too glad to stop the car on the curb. "Why in the world does Hakase make these things for you? And what else is there?" Sato asked, turning her head to face the Detective Boys.

Ayumi shifted slightly again, almost as if guilty. "Well, Hakase says that Conan-kun is really mature for his age, which he is. But don't you think that we deserve those awesome gadgets too?" She looked at Takagi pleadingly.

Takagi rubbed his head slightly. "Well, sure..."

Genta turned towards Mitsuhiko. "Do you remember that bow-tie?" he inquired. Mitsuhiko nodded his head. "Yeah, Conan-kun used that a few times..."

"What bow-tie?" Sato asked quickly.

"Oh, Conan-kun sometimes uses a bow-tie, you know, the one he wears around his neck. The red one. He imitates people's voices...it's really kinda creepy how he does it..."

_Dear Lord, what was up with the younger generation these days?_

* * *

Kudo Yusaku burst out of the airport wildly. A few people stared at him, but none seemed to recognize him as the famous author. The disguise he had prepared had probably helped, but in his hurry, he was afraid he might have slipped. He bumped into a foreign woman as he hailed the next taxi, but Yusaku didn't have enough time to apologize.

Yusaku slammed the taxi door shut, and the poor driver looked both startled and suspicious. "Beika City, Beika Town, 2-chōme, 21-banchi," he shouted.

The driver seemed to know better than to question his odd customer and the taxi drove off just below the speed limit.

20 minutes later, Yusaku stood in front of a seemingly abandoned house. The taxi driver seemed confused that his customer wished to visit a haunted house, but decided not to ask. Yusaku paid the taxi driver and waved him off.

Yukiko appeared at the door, her usually perfect hair matted and messy. They had arranged ahead of time to meet there seeing as Yukiko hadn't bothered to go home after her meeting with Sharon.

The couple entered the house and sat on the sofa. "Yusaku..." Yukiko said quietly. "Shin-chan...he, there isn't much information...Hakase isn't answering the phone..."

Yusaku put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. "Yukiko...it'll be okay," Yusaku murmured. However, the voice in the back of his mind seemed to disagree. Yusaku felt his stomach lurch, it was almost as if his entire body felt something bad was coming.

"Yusaku, I feel so helpless!" Yukiko wailed. "It was bad enough in the beginning when we didn't know where he was when he'd just shrunk...but now, oh Yusaku!"

Yusaku felt his grip tighten on his wife. Here they were, sitting in a house, desperate and despairing, but _safe_, while Shinichi was somewhere out there, kidnapped...

Yukiko continued to sob into Yusaku's shoulder until her tears were exhausted and she fell asleep. Yusaku laid her down on the couch, prepared to do research and contact Interpol if he deemed it necessary.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Yusaku was on the alert. Cautiously, Yusaku glanced out the door and he was greeted with the sight of a familiar friend.

"Yusaku, it's good to see you," Hakase said in a low murmur. "If only it could be under different circumstances."

A pained expression crossed Yusaku's face, which did not go unnoticed by Hakase. The older man shifted slightly. "Yusaku, there's something I need to tell you about Ai-kun and Okiya..."

Suddenly, Yusaku noticed a faint shadow in Agasa's house. "Agasa," Yusaku said urgently. "Is there anybody in your house?"

"No...Haibara hasn't come back yet and..." Hakase's eyes widened. "You don't think..."

Yusaku grabbed his jacket. "Agasa, let's..."

Before either of the two were able to do anything, there was a burst of flames, visible from the Kudo's house. The hot red flames licked at Hakase's house and smoke began rising into the air.

Hakase started running. "Yusaku!" His eyes were full of panic, and Yusaku could tell why. All his life's research was in that house...it was something he couldn't lose.

"Agasa, wake Yukiko up to help you!" shouted Yusaku. "I'll go and catch our culprit!"

Yusaku dashed around the corner after the escaping shadow, but it wasn't long before he lost Okiya Subaru. Angered, Yusaku raced back to Hakase's house. He had been meaning to interrogate Okiya about the whereabouts of his son, but with Okiya gone...Yusaku wondered if it was worth staying here. There was one thing for sure, he would gladly throw himself away to recklessness and call Interpol right now to investigate further. The fire seemed to have been put out, and cautiously, Yusaku entered the house.

Hakase and Yukiko had gotten there in time to save most of the house. The area that suffered the greatest was the basement, where the fire had started, something that Yusaku doubted was coincidental. Hakase said that Haibara Ai had done most of her research there and the files were all stored in that area. A Black Org member wouldn't hesitate to destroy the information that could overthrow them.

Hakase was half in shock, half in disbelief. His life had been devoted to all of the research that was in his house and now almost half of it was gone. All his work, all his effort, gone without a trace in less than 20 minutes. Yusaku walked up to his friend, not saying anything, knowing that any comforting words that came out of his mouth were to fall on deaf ears.

The three stood there in silence, watching the smoldering remains of the basement

* * *

"Thanks, okaasan," Ran whispered into her mother's ear. The two were driving, per Ran's request, to the train station* to inquire about Hattori Heiji. Ran hadn't given many details and was sitting in the back quietly. These were the first words she had said since they had gotten on the road.

Eri smiled lightly, knowing that her daughter was in some sort of dilemma. She wondered if it had something to do with Edogawa Conan, or if it was something else. "Honey, I'd throw away my life for you. This is nothing." Eri wasn't much for safe driving, but she was more cautious when her only daughter was in the car.

She noticed her daughter clenching her phone tightly. There seemed to be another phone in her hand, a bright red one, with something dangling from it. Eri adjusted the mirror slightly so she could see her daughter easily. "Ran, who's phone is that?"

Ran looked up quickly, her cheeks slightly flushed. "A...a friend. Okaasan, look ahead, you don't want to bump into a car."

For some reason, Ran was avoiding the subject. Eri frowned. There was something very very wrong about all of this.

They drove the rest of the way in silence.

* * *

Gin glared at the man in front of him, lacing his fingers together. The room was dark, with just enough light emitting from several screens so that both members could see each other.

"So let me get this straight," Gin hissed. "You had Sherry. Sherry. The traitor. The one who is frightened to _death _about us. And you lost her."

Bourbon stared back, something that was rather dangerous for a member of the BO to do towards Gin. "Yes, I had Sherry. I burned down most of her research about APTX and made a clean escape. It is better than what Vermouth did back then*, she failed both to kill Sherry and to escape with minor wounds."

Gin stood up. "That is true. Unfortunately, I have been orders to keep you alive. Should you fail again, I will immediately take action to take your life. The cover of Okiya Subaru is currently under dilemma, you have exposed it, yet we all know that Okiya Subaru is actually, or rather, was actually an ally of the FBI."

A smirk crossed Bourbon's face. "We still have the Silver Bullet captive, don't we?"

"Yes, that is, if you hold the same opinion as Vermouth and Anokata that he is the Silver Bullet," Gin said coldly. "However, the Silver Bullet is but a legend when used against the Organization."

"Yet, Akai Shuichi caused that mark," Bourbon said, pointing at Gin.

The man winced at the memory of the bullet striking his cheek. "Ah, but Bourbon, we have secured the Silver Bullet, as you know very well. There is no such thing as the Silver Bullet anymore."

Gin smirked as he turned to the screen with a picture of a captive Akai.

* * *

Akai had been there for a while. His wrists had been shackled to the walls and his legs were cuffed to heavy metal. He grimaced, recalling how he had gotten into this situation._Edogawa_, he thought, _you better come up with something quick, because if you don't, we all know the outcome._

Akai closed his eyes, thinking back to the discussion he had had with the boy.

* * *

_Akai leaned against the wall, talking to that young boy. Edogawa Conan._

"_So here's the plan," Edogawa was saying, his unnaturally intelligent eyes glancing back and forth as if calculating something. "We want all suspicion to be off Kir, so unfortunately, you'll have to go undercover. We can't tell the other FBI members, their reactions wouldn't be precise enough. Kir will aim for your chest first, so we'll put a bulletproof vest underneath your jacket. You'll need fake blood to make it look realistic. Then, when you don't die immediately, she'll probably shoot your head. We'll also have bulletproof material underneath your cap. And of course, more fake blood. Gin will probably be watching you from somewhere safe, probably somewhere down the road, as well as through a camera. He shouldn't be able to tell whether the blood is fake or not. You'll have a detonator in your right pocket to detonate the fake blood at the precise time. I'll call the police in so Gin won't have extra time to investigate whether you're truly dead or not."_

"_Ah yes," Akai agreed, at the same time calculating exactly who this boy was. Even when he was younger, admiring the police, he had never been so into...justice. "However, in order to destroy the evidence, it's likely that Kir will arrange for a bomb. How do you want me to get out of that situation?"_

"_Do what Camel did," Edogawa replied, starting to pace. "The bomb will explode, and you will leap out about a second before. This, of course, completely depends on timing. Are you willing to take the chance? If you aren't willing to take the chance, it's likely that Kir will die and we will stop receiving information on the Org. If you don't time yourself correctly, either you will die, or Kir will. Will you do it?"_

_Akai smirked, wondering if the Edogawa kid was just teasing him. "Kid, I'd sacrifice my life for it."_

_He hadn't expected such a serious look from such a young kid. "You've decided, huh? Well I decided as well...a long time ago." For a moment, Edogawa seemed to be lost in his memories and Akai remained silent. He wanted to know what Edogawa had experienced that made him hate the BO so much, as well as exactly who he was. The system hadn't contained much information...he had to get to that...but he was supposed to "die" today..._

_Edogawa shook his head. "It doesn't matter. What matters is setting the action into plan. You'll park your car next to the cliff and right before the bomb goes off, you jump. If possible, I'll scout out the area to make sure it's safe enough. It shouldn't be too hard. We'll also ask Kir to use blank cartridges just in case."_

_Akai nodded, then paused. "Perhaps...don't. If you don't use blanks, the risk will be higher for me, but it would also be more realistic. Blanks are dangerous at close range, regular bullets would be better."_

_Edogawa considered this. "That's true, but I know somebody who could probably get us, or rather, produce safe blanks in a short period of time."_

"_You do?" Akai felt surprised. This boy had connections as well. "You seem to have good connections. All right, we'll go with your plan. Now for the details..."_

* * *

"_You can't return as Akai," Edogawa said. "As soon as you get down, contact me through the phone number I gave yo__u. Do you know where Rikumichi Kusuda's* body is?"_ _Ed__ogawa seemed to wince at the thought, and Akai didn't blame him._

"_Yes. His fingerprints, you have them, right?" Akai asked. The boy had explained it thoroughly;_ _they were going through the details just to calm their nerves._

_Edogawa nodded. "So...this should be our last meeting for now. Or rather, the last meeting with you as Akai Shuichi."_

_Akai smirked and leaned against the wall, smoking a cigarette. "You know, if I didn't see the proof with my own eyes, I'd say you weren't who you seemed." Edogawa stiffened. "And, if my calculations are correct," Akai leaned towards the boy, "you are the true Silver Bullet."_

_A wave of blankness washed over the boy. "I am but a kid. A kid who supports justice. But just a kid."_

_Akai stood up, knowing he wasn't going to get anything else out of Edogawa, at least not today. "Just as well," Akai said. "Shall we proceed?"_

* * *

_Akai looked in the mirror and sighed. He was located at a building under the alias of Okiya Subaru. Edogawa had helped prepare a mask for him and now Akai was staring into his, or rather, Okiya's face._

_For the first time, Akai felt lost. All of this had been to prove that Kir was "innocent". Now what? It was indeed peaceful here, which Akai didn't mind (he had taken up gardening as a hobby), but Akai wasn't the type to sit around. Now that "Akai" was supposedly dead, there really weren't many connections he could use to get information._

* * *

Of course, peace and calm never lasted with Akai around. Akai grimaced as he thought of the day the BO came knocking.

_He had moved into Kudo Shinichi's house a while ago, much to the objection of that girl. Haibara Ai. Miyano Shiho. Sherry. Whatever people called her these days. He wasn't surprised, she was frightened to death of the BO and he did (Akai thought, chuckling to himself) look a bit suspicious._

_The doorbell rang that day, and Akai went to open it. Before he had a chance to react, something pricked him in the neck.* Akai slumped to the ground, consciousness fading. The last thing he heard was a ringtone, that of Nanatsu no Ko, and a smug voice saying, "Target acquired."_

* * *

*Notes (starred):

I haven't gotten to it yet, but I'm changing Hattori's arrival from Osaka to train, seeing as it's the most popular form of transport in Japan.

This could be achieved with a simple mechanism that involves setting up a device that shoots a needle when the door is opened. There wouldn't need to be anybody there, which would decrease the chances of the BO (in this case, Bourbon, who would later take over the identity of Okiya) being taken out by Akai before they managed to secure him.

Rikumichi Kusuda was the BO member that was sent over to investigate whether Kir was in the hospital or not. He suicided when he saw Akai chasing him. Fan theories suggest that his fingerprints may be the ones that Conan gave to Jodie on his phone.

Author's Note: Once again, sorry for the late update. If you could, please tell me whether I should update once a month (longer chapter) or once every 2 weeks (shorter chapter). The schedule for once a week was a bit too strenuous, so I'm changing it.

This chapter didn't turn out quite as I expected it to, I ended up changing the plot a bit. Originally, I was going to have Okiya be Bourbon without any dilemma, but after thinking through it, isn't it possible that Okiya was Akai? If we consider it that way, we can also consider the possibility that Bourbon entered in later, replacing Akai as Okiya and taking him captive at the same time.

Anybody wondering who exactly Scar Akai is right now and why he's taken Conan? You'll have to wait to find out...

Oh, and I finally discovered how to make line breaks (which I am very happy about). So you now have awesome line breaks instead of manually made lines.


	12. Twists and Turns

Author's Note: Alright, I'm sorry! I've had exams and been traveling for the past two months. Yes, I know that's no excuse for being gone so long, so the least I can do is get this chapter out before school starts again.

I don't have much to say besides thanking you all for your patience. I'm going to be getting back on track soon with the story (which I plan to finish somewhere in the next year...hopefully) and my other stories.

Finally, I want to give special thanks to Ally Marton and Kittychan H, along with my fellow DCW members. This chapter is specially dedicated to Chelseaj500, since I was too busy on her birthday (coincidentally also mine) to be able to send this out.

I'll include a brief recap here of what's happened:

Summary: Irish didn't end up dying in the Raven Chaser. Instead, he successfully took Conan with him to the Black Organization's HQ. Conan remains there for about two days while Irish waits patiently for his appointment with Anokata. Meanwhile, the rest of the community is searching frantically for him. The BO move in and clean up most of the mess that Irish has left behind. Gin starts searching out weak links, murdering them to make the Organization stronger while Anokata watches from behind the scenes. It's revealed that both Akai and Bourbon are Okiya Subaru – Akai being the original Okiya and later replaced by Bourbon in a brief capture. Akai is currently being held at the HQ.

Kaito, Hakuba, and Heiji join together in a search for Conan while Haibara faces off against Bourbon. She wins in a close match involving poison and guns. Bourbon, however, escapes and joins with Gin. Haibara, after receiving a call from Conan, runs to find him with the antidote in her hand. Before she is able to give it to him, a shot rings out and Scar Akai enters the scene.

Scar Akai takes Conan away, calling in a taskforce to clean up Haibara, who is laying motionless on the ground. Soon after, Kaito, Hakuba, and Heiji arrive at the scene. After a little swearing and a little explanation, the three get Haibara to a secret hideout of Kaito's where Kaito treats her bullet wound. Where this chapter starts, she is still unconscious and none of them are sure what's going to happen to her.

And finally, before we begin, many thanks to Uninspired Author, who is a wonderfully inspiring beta!

* * *

"Lucifer, Lucifer, show me the whereabouts of Kaitou KID," Koizumi Akako murmured as she stood in front of a large, pitch-black stirring pot. The substance in it boiled a dark forest green, bubbles forming at the top.

Akako took a crystal glass containing bright purple potion and slowly poured it into the pot, stirring it with a stirring spoon. She sighed. Akako had never really liked the old-fashioned ways of potions and dramatic spells, she much preferred using her hands. It was quite interesting to create doppelgangers of herself and watch them do all her chores, homework, and go to school for her. It also left her plenty of time to focus on making Kuroba Kaito fall in love with her.

Well, it used to.

But lately, or rather, about a week ago, she had been drawn to the attention of a different male. A male she had never noticed before, except as a threat to the existence of Kaitou KID.

Hakuba Saguru.

Though Akako had never noticed it, Hakuba never really did seem...interested in her. Sure, he seemed to note her beauty, but he never fawned over her, never treated her as if she was somebody special. At first, the kiss on her hand when they first met had been enough to assure Akako that this guy fell for her as well...until she noticed he did it to _everyone_. _EVERYONE._ Including Aoko, her somewhat hated rival.

Why couldn't she be _the one_ for somebody? The girl somebody loved because of who she was? She felt so very, very alone.

Akako gritted her teeth. She was a witch. All she cared about was men being under her control. It didn't matter who it was. It didn't matter if she liked them or not. She was emotionless.

But...

Suddenly, her thoughts were drowned out by a familiar boom of thunder. _It's starting_, Akako thought grimly.

_Amidst Hell's forest_

_With crimson blood_

_The wolf-hound howls_

_And trembles thus_

_The screams of pain_

_And breaking of chains_

_The tear, the silence, and the end will come_

Akako blinked at the prophecy she was given. "No...this doesn't tell me _anything_ about where Kuroba is. Did I mess up the potion?" She peered at the pot, the clear liquid inside reflecting her image. It looked just the way it should, the potion inside clear and sparkling. So the spell had worked. But...what did Lucifer's words have anything to do with Kuroba's whereabouts?

Akako glanced at the only memoir of her family in her room. A crystal hand-mirror, delicately balanced against the wall. Unlike the other mirrors in the room, there was no dust on this one. The edge was lined with small diamonds and the glass in the middle was smoother than water.

Akako both loved and hated the mirror. It was a gift from her mother, and every time she glanced at it, her heart weighed down. For that brief moment, she wondered about her past, wondered why she had chosen immortality, wondered why she'd given up her memories. But she always stopped herself. Giving oneself to Lucifer was no random choice.

She crossed over to the room and held it up, watching it reflect the light. Perhaps it was her imagination, but she saw brief flashes of her life, the spaced out joyful moments, the times when she felt something, the times when she had almost...had almost cried...

She sighed and prepared for travel.

* * *

"Damn it," Kuroba cursed as Hakuba watched on. "Too deep. And we can't go to the hospital, they'll find her and come finish the job. They don't know that we're on the case yet, and that's our only advantage right now. You," at this, Kuroba glared at the two meitanteis who were sitting in the chairs, "didn't you guys learn anything about first aid? Hurry up and help!"

Hattori moved over to where Kuroba was, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Kuroba, I'm no doc..." he began.

"Well, make yourself useful," Kuroba said. He had calmed down a bit as he took out a bullet from the little girl's chest. "Hand over the disinfectant." Hakuba silently handed the disinfectant to Kuroba. They were now in another safe house, located a little aways from where one of Kaitou KID's many heists had taken place. Hakuba marveled at the strategic design of the house – the air shafts were placed specifically so that the cool air was brought directly into the house, but very little (if any) sound was transmitted outside. There was a separate room with several beds in it attached to the surgical room where Haibara was currently resting in. The entrance was cleverly concealed but easy enough to access, probably one of the reasons why Kuroba had chosen this location. Carrying an injured girl was no easy task, especially when you knew her life was literally in your hands.

An oxygen mask was on the girl's face, her skin deathly pale. Hakuba had witnessed many murders, but nothing like this. He had never been...waiting. It was always go, go, go. Cracking codes, solving cases, stopping murders – you had to keep moving. There was no waiting about it.

"Alright," Kuroba said, standing up. He was sweating visibly but a faint smile was on his face. "She's stable and should be okay for now. But I want 24/7 guard on her. We don't know what could happen...and I'm not entirely certain that nobody will track us down either."

There he was again. The paranoid and tenseness in the air...for the first time, Hakuba almost felt...scared. Was this fear?

"I'll take first watch. Get some sleep, Hakuba. There's not much we can do right now. And...Hattori?"

There was no answer and Kuroba turned around. The Osakan detective was nowhere to be seen.

Hattori Heiji was found half an hour later, snoring.

Kuroba nearly kicked himself. He should've known. After all, they had been moving all day and the Osakan detective didn't seem one to waste a chance. Hakuba stumbled quietly into a room and collapsed on the bed there, leaving Kuroba to watch over the little girl himself.

Her breathing was shallow, but had an even pace to it, which was certainly better than before. Kuroba felt his eyelids closing and forced them open, dragging himself over to the counter for a cup of coffee. He let the bitter taste wash over his tongue. Kuroba had begun drinking it more frequently, but his tongue still wasn't quite used to the taste of it.

When he had downed one cup and poured himself another, he took his laptop and began to research furiously. It was a few hours later before he stood up stiffly and went to wake Hattori.

The Osakan grumbled, tossed, and turned when Kuroba tried to wake him and it was a full fifteen minutes before he even opened his eyes. "Kuroba," tantei-han said, ruffling his hair as he sat up, "is it morning?"

Kuroba fought the urge to hit the Osakan. "No. It's your shift. Don't fall asleep on it."

"Mmm...kay." The Osakan stood up, stretched, and walked out of the room.

Kuroba stumbled over to the bed. But his last thought before unconsciousness took over him wasn't about tantei-kun, or whether tantei-han would stay awake, or how annoying Hakuba had been, or if his mother was worried.

The last image before sleep invaded was of Aoko.

* * *

Edogawa Conan woke up groggily.

He wasn't sure how long it'd been. With his hands shackled behind him, he had no way to tell what time it is and being locked in this cramped, dark space didn't even give him a hint on whether it was day or night. He didn't even know if they were still in Japan. The helplessness was getting to him and for the first time, he felt true fear. This wasn't Irish, who would keep him alive at all costs just to bring Gin down. This was another member of the Black Organization, one that probably wouldn't hesitate to murder him on the spot.

There was no sound from outside, not even the sound of an engine. Had that man with the scar left? This was his only chance...Conan started moving around, hitting his shackled wrists against the ground and kicking the walls that surrounded him. Anything, anything to create noise...

There was a bit of a ruckus outside and Conan's hopes rose a bit...then fell as Scar Akai (as Conan had dubbed him) looked in. The displeased expression on his face was obvious and Conan was dragged out of the cramped space he was in roughly. They were in some sort of garage and as far as Conan knew, it was either late at night or early morning. The car they came out of was different from the one they had started in and there was another completely different car waiting in the garage as well. Gosh, this man was so paranoid...even Gin didn't change several cars in one turn...but then again, Gin never took hostages...

Conan was tossed in again. All he could do was wait.

* * *

Ran sat on her bed, feeling numb.

She had spent most of her day on a wild goose chase with her mother, trying to find Hattori. She had no such luck. There was very little for her to go on and the police had apologetically sent her home after a few hours of being on the scene. Now she was sitting here, unsure what to do, not knowing where to go.

Her room was cold, a result of her not bothering to turn the heater on. She wondered if Conan felt cold, if he was shivering, if he was...if he was...

The door cracked open and a thin stream of light came through. Ran blinked a few times before looking up. Her mother, unsurprisingly, was at the door.

"Ran?" Eri whispered. "Are you ok?"

Why was it that people always asked if you were okay when you obviously weren't?

"I'm fine," Ran muttered under her breath. "Can I...can I please have some time alone?"

Eri nodded and closed the door, throwing the room into complete darkness again.

Ran took a shaky breath and slowly took her phone from her pocket. She scrolled down the list of contacts, looking desperately for the one number she relied on the most, the one number that she needed the most...

She pressed the dial button and held it close to her ear, praying that somehow, miraculously, he would come through again...

The phone rang and rang and rang.

No one picked up.

* * *

Mitsuhiko sat deep in thought. Or as deep in thought as a seven-year old (a real seven-year old) could be at a little past midnight.

Genta and Ayumi were both home, probably asleep, which was good. He needed time...time to consider his next actions. Time to plan.

...He was sounding a little like a secret agent. A fact he liked.

And then he strapped on his gun and...yeah right. No matter what Mitsuhiko liked to think, no matter how young he was, he had always been fairly realistic.

Fairly. But being realistic didn't mean the knight-in-shining-armor couldn't save the princess, right?

His parents didn't want him caught up in this business. They had disapproved of all the detective work he had done until recently and even now they still looked away when he described the corpses the Detective Boys had encountered and the cases Conan-kun had solved. Mitsuhiko wasn't surprised. He was aware that his parents were rather protective of him...but...

He picked up the cap that he'd worn to a baseball game and settled it gently on his head. His backpack lay on the wooden floor of his room, its contents defying nature and not spilling out. Water...bread...fruits...granola bars...fruit snacks...everything you could find in an average person's household.

He knew that his parents would be distressed and mad. He'd tried his best to write an emotional letter on his desk, stating that he had to find and help his friends. He knew that Ayumi and Genta would be disappointed and worried since he hadn't taken them with him. But...he couldn't take them. Some might call it noble, but deep down, Mitsuhiko thought it was because he was a little selfish. He wanted Haibara to like him. He wanted Conan to be proud of him. He wanted to prove he was good.

He zipped up the backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and walked out of the house.

* * *

"_Shiho!"_

_A cold pair of eyes greeted the warm and friendly young woman. "Don't go around yelling my name in public," Shiho said icily._

_The woman smiled good-naturedly. "Hai," she said, though she looked a little bit disappointed._

_Shiho immediately regretted her actions. "Gomen, neechan," she said, the iciness fading a little. She called the waitress over and asked for two ice-teas – her sister's favorite drink._

"_So...how have you been, Shiho?" her sister asked as she sipped her drink._

_Shiho shrugged. "The same as ever. And how about you and..." at this, Shiho looked up, her eyes searching her sister's face "...Dai-san?"_

_Akemi's face was faintly red...so brief it might've been a mistake. "I'm ok," she said, not looking at her sister. "And Dai-kun is the same as ever."_

_Shiho sipped her drink, thinking back onto the formula she was in the process of creating...for the 4752nd time. A few hundred more tries and she'd get it right...hopefully. It was what she had spent her entire life working on._

"_...ho?"_

_Shiho blinked to see her sister waving a hand in front of her. "You were thinking again," Akemi stated factually. "About your project?"_

_Shiho nodded. Akemi knew to stay silent and she stirred the ice cubes in her glass. Shiho returned to staring out the window, simply thinking. Tomorrow she'd try adding a touch more of akuma* powder...perhaps that would do the trick..._

"_I don't get you sometimes."_

"_...Pardon?"_

_Akemi looked out the window as well, her eyes glancing over the lush green trees that seemed the opposite of their secret lives. "I don't get you," she repeated._

_Shiho was surprised, though she masked it. "You should," she replied. "I'm a simple person. Just a genius who's working on her own project. Why wouldn't you understand me?" In her words though, she felt a slight pang. _I'm just your sister. Why wouldn't you understand?

_To this, Akemi made no reply. She simply gave a brief smile (one that Shiho immediately decided was fake) and stood up. "I need to go," she said. "I have an appointment later."_

_Everyone knew what an appointment was and that, unless someone wanted almost certain death, why they shouldn't be late for them. Shiho nodded and stood up as well, extending her hand to her sister to shake._

_Akemi seemed to hesitate. She put out her hand, but before the two left in this polite manner, Shiho suddenly felt herself being enveloped in a hug._

"_Feelings. I don't understand why you don't seem to have feelings," Akemi whispered. She released Shiho from the hug and took a step back. Then she spun around on her heel and left._

_Those words stayed with Shiho for longer than she had ever remembered anything not relating to her project had stayed with her._

_Feelings, huh. Shiho walked out of the restaurant after paying the bill. It's not like she needed feelings in her field of expertise._

_Feelings..._

* * *

He was expected to stay still and let Kuroba do all the work? Yeah right.

Kuroba seemed to be troubled, tossing and turning as he slept. Hattori was on guard duty (and yes, Hakuba had checked that the hotheaded detective was still awake).

Now he could get down to business.

Hakuba warily took out a laptop that Kuroba had provided for them. Yay for technology. Immediately, he started doing research. He doubted there was much research or information out there that Kuroba hadn't already scavenged – he did know his way around technology after all – but it was worth a try. And besides, Hakuba would have access to his labs as well as any resources in England.

The computer whirred to life and to Hakuba's surprise, a little figure dressed from head to toe in white with a monocle and top hat (a sight a little too familiar for his taste) walked on to the screen, dragging the login menu up. Then, the miniature KID did a formal little bow and in a slightly squeaky voice said:

"Hey Tantei-san! This is the laptop I prepared for you! Enjoy! You'll have to figure out the password yourself though. I'm sure this should be enough to get you going!" the cheerful KID jabbered.

"Red-i and Kokocrunch," KID said cheerfully. Then he erupted in confetti with a faint, "Bye!"

Hakuba stared at the screen in bewilderment, then facepalmed. He resisted the urge to strangle Kuroba.

* * *

The boy was asleep. Finally.

Scar Akai had, in truth, been driving rather aimlessly. He could've knocked out the boy, yes, but that would mean he'd be in a rather groggy state of mind when he woke the kid up...something he didn't want.

Man, it had been a while since he had done any field work. He smirked. It was time for him to shine.

He pulled up his phone and for a brief moment, the smirk on his face faded. In the Organization, secrecy was of utmost importance. Nothing was personal, nothing was made so that a person would stand out from the crowd. After all, the best place to hide a tree would be in a forest.

Scar Akai was no different. He wore normal clothing, not too ragged not too fancy. No tattoos or anything similar, no special marks.

Just his phone.

Just the one thing that kept him from being an empty shell.

* * *

Four days. It had officially been four days the moment the clock struck midnight.

Sato held a cup of coffee and looked around at the office. Her eyes were haggard from little sleep and she saw Chiba snoring at his desk.

The number of officers that stayed at the office seemed to lessen every day, as if they'd given up hope. Shiratori, Takagi, Chiba, and her were amongst the few who were still here, still researching, still hoping that Conan was out there...still alive.

Still alive. The first 24-hours after a kidnapping were the most crucial. It had been over 72. She wasn't surprised that so many had lost hope.

Megure-keibu had looked regretful as he left his colleagues earlier that day to solve a homicide. He had made sure Mouri-san was out of the way – wouldn't do to make him even more stressed under the circumstances – but the lack of Conan was apparent. Unfortunately, most murderers don't care about little kids who get kidnapped.

Takagi looked worn down. Ever since they'd lost the files on Megure-keibu's computer they'd had to scavenge for each and every little scrap of information they could find. There wasn't much...barely enough. And the fact that Conan was a child didn't help...

...Especially _that_.

It was a small detail, really. Something that most people wouldn't have noticed. But Sato wasn't anything if not intelligent...even if she was surviving on 4 hours of sleep a night.

It had to do with Conan himself. The documents. They were flawless. Perfect. Reasonable.

There was something off about that...something she couldn't quite place...

Sato's thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door. She brushed a strand of hair off her face and went to open the door. Takagi stood there, looking a little awkward when he realized they were both alone. Under normal circumstances, he might've stuttered or turned red, but he was so fatigued that he didn't have the strength to do either. He simply handed her several documents, nodded, and left again.

Sato's thoughts about Conan drifted away and she thought briefly of how tired Takagi had seemed. She then shook her head and returned to her desk.

* * *

Akako glared at the purple potion. "You're not helping," she hissed.

She'd been at it for an entire hour already, brewing potion after potion. All either failed or repeated the poem she'd first heard. Akako threw down the stirring spoon in frustration. She knew magic was almost always vague and never precise, but this made no sense.

She wasn't thinking straight. Or perhaps that wasn't the word for it, since magic is never linear. Either way, she didn't know what to do, didn't know where to go, and didn't know who to find.

Akako grimaced. She'd spent enough time with her cauldron. She was going to do solve this her way.

* * *

_He was walking down the corridor. The corridor of where, he wasn't sure._

_The corridor was dark but the moonlight shone through the glass windows. There was a shadow of a figure, but with the person's face turned towards the windows, it was impossible to tell the gender or how he or she looked like._

_As he stepped closer, he realized that he could distantly see a forest. A wolf howled, and though he didn't believe in fairytales, ghosts, or anything of the sort, he shivered involuntarily. The entire chill of the corridor gave an eerie feel to the place._

_He was just close enough to see the figure a little more clearly, though the gender of the stranger remained a mystery. The figure turned around and he looked at him in horror. The face of the figure was thrown in shadow, but his chest, his chest was slashed with blood...crimson blood..._

Conan woke, drenched in cold sweat. He was panting. Where exactly was he?

Moving around as quietly as possible (and as much as possible, granted he was trussed up like a turkey), he felt around him. Walls, walls, walls...he was still in the car. Groaning, he sank back down. He had only had a few sips of water and hadn't breathed much fresh air in...hours at the very least.

He sucked in his breath as he remembered the nightmare. Crimson blood...dark, black, wolves...night...it all seemed to remind him of the Black Organization. Conan shook his head. Most things that could be connected with black and night were, in his book, connected to the Organization.

The sound of the car door opening pierced Conan's thoughts. Perhaps most people wouldn't exactly look forward to being dragged out of a vehicle by a kidnapper, but at this rate, all Conan wanted was to get out of this goddamn stuffy car. Unsure what to expect, he closed his eyes and attempted to breathe evenly.

With surprising gentleness, he was lifted out of the car. The process reminded Conan eerily of his early kidnapping days (the thought made him feel like his career was in being kidnapped) with Irish. Perhaps all Organization members dealt with hostages this way...if they even took hostages that is...

He was over analyzing. Conan cracked his eyes open, wondering about what was to come.

* * *

"Yusaku."

The man tensed up at the voice. "Is that you?" he whispered. His hands shook slightly as he pressed the phone to his ear, hoping against hope that he had heard wrong, that it was just a dream.

"Yes."

Yusaku inhaled deeply, scarcely believing his ears. "What are you doing here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." The voice was clear and cool but menacing at the same time, sending a shiver down Yusaku's spine.

The caller hung up and Yusaku was left staring at the phone, horror in his eyes. He dropped the phone and ran.

* * *

Agasa was staying with the Kudos while the police investigated the house. Yukiko didn't know how to comfort him – Agasa didn't seem to be paying much attention, not that she blamed him.

What she was more worried about was that little girl – Haibara Ai – who had gone out and had yet to come back. Not to mention Bourbon. The fact that the criminal had escaped was a terrifying thought, and judging by what Shin-chan had said about the Organization, it was likely that they would come back to finish the deed. Which meant...they had to get moving. Had to get moving before they got killed.

"_Shannon, why are you so cold to certain people?" a young Yukiko asked curiously._

_The older girl shifted uncomfortably. "I've learned something in this world. We humans are just like animals, who operate by the eat or be eaten system. Humans go by kill or be killed."_

Yukiko shivered. She didn't want to think of Shannon. Not now. Never.

Suddenly, the door slammed into the wall, jolting Yukiko out of her thoughts. A pale Yusaku stood there in the doorway, his tie loose around his neck and panic in his eyes. Yukiko blinked, thinking she was dreaming. Yusaku was never panicked. Never nervous. Never...

"Yukiko. Agasa," Yusaku croaked. "We need to get out of here. Now."

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, I know that I'm a horrid person and didn't update for months, making you all disappointed. In the beginning, I had work, as the summer progressed, I had other activities planned, and I got (slightly) sidetracked by www. /forum/, minus the spaces (alright, maybe not "slightly").

Anyways, while Haibara is still unconscious, I'm having her remember a memory of Akemi. It's somewhere between half a year and a year before the drug is put into use.

Again, sorry for the delay. I hope you will accept this chapter (and me ridding myself of writers' block, another factor that contributed to my long absence.

Sidenotes:

*akuma = devil. I don't believe there's anything called "devil powder" in reality, but it would be interesting if an ingredient of APTX4869 was "devil powder." I'm sure it would actually be a mixture of a number of things, but combined together would be known as "devil powder."


	13. Apologies

**Alright, I'm sorry to say that this is not a chapter update.**

**I'm here to apologize. _Taken_ is officially discontinued. I lost heart in it—I think that reflected in my writing. There, I realized, were too many plot holes, too many little spots that I felt just didn't work the way I would've liked it to. I was writing a new chapter, but somehow, it lost its importance.**

**I'm also here to thank everyone who reviewed, put this on alert, or favorited this story. Your support helped me continue writing and it made me a much better writer.**

**I suppose that I could've rewritten everything, but I did not want to do that. To be truthful, I gave up writing for DC in general. I lost interest in it—and I somehow doubt I will ever regain interest in it.**

**That being said, if there is anyone out there who wishes to use this idea, feel free. I'm happy to advise you if you need advice and I do hope that you'll mention me in some way or form—though I don't blame you if you don't. I am considering keeping one single idea—one that I was originally going to use as a sequel to _Taken_, that, if written, will be a stand-alone story. Keep that one in mind. Other than that, if there was any idea that I wrote down originally on my profile, you may use it as long as you credit me with it.**

**If any of you are into Percy Jackson or Sherlock, you may see some of my work there. I'm sorry to have to break this to all of you this way, but I'm guessing many of you suspected it anyways, so I hope it's not too much of a disappointment.**

**Adieu...for now.**

**~ tonsostuff**


End file.
